Tsoabichi

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Tsoabichi
Temporal range:
Ma[1]
Tsoabichi greenriverensis cast at Fossil Butte National Monument, Lincoln County, Wyoming
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Caimaninae
Genus: †Tsoabichi
Brochu, 2010
Type species
†Tsoabichi greenriverensis
Brochu, 2010

Tsoabichi (from

Caimaninae and may have evolved after caimans dispersed into North America from northern and central South America, their main center of diversity in the Cenozoic.[3]

Description

Some living caimans such as the

naris where the nostrils are located.[2]

The dorsal osteoderms (bony scutes along the back) are wider than those of other caimans. Some have two keels on their outer surface. Tsoabichi also has bipartite ventral osteoderms on its underside.[2]

Phylogeny

Tsoabichi was included in a phylogenetic analysis when it was described in 2010. Brochu (2010) found it to be a

sister taxon to crown group caimans (the smallest clade that includes all living caimans and their most recent common ancestor). Eocaiman and Culebrasuchus were successively more basal than Tsoabichi, as shown in the cladogram below:[3]

†

Stangerochampsa mccabei

†

Brachychampsa montana

†

Brachychampsa sealeyi

Alligatoridae

Alligatorinae

Caimaninae

†

Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus

†

Eocaiman cavernensis

†Tsoabichi greenriverensis

caimans

Paleosuchus palpebrosus Cuvier's dwarf caiman

Paleosuchus trigonatus Smooth-fronted caiman

†

Centenariosuchus gilmorei

†

Purussaurus neivensis

†Mourasuchus

†

Orthogenysuchus olseni

Caiman crocodilus Spectacled caiman

Caiman yacare Yacare caiman

Caiman latirostris Broad-snouted caiman

†

Caiman lutescens

†

Melanosuchus fisheri

Melanosuchus niger Black caiman

Biogeography

Tsoabichi is one of the few caimanines known to have lived north of what is now Mexico; the majority of caimans living and extinct are known from Central and South America. Caimans are thought to have originated in North America in the

derived caimans).[3]

References

  1. PMID 34567843
    .
  2. ^
    S2CID 129231903
    .
  3. ^
    S2CID 83972694
    .
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