Fossil Wiki
Advertisement
Alligators and Caimans
Fossil range: Cretaceous - Recent
Scientific classification

Class:

Reptilia

Order:

Crocodilia

Family:

Alligatoridae Gray, 1844

Alligators and caimans are archosaurs, species of crocodilians and form the family Alligatoridae (sometimes regarded instead as the subfamily Alligatorinae).

True alligators[]

Alligators proper occur in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age.

Taxonomy[]

  • ORDER Crocodilia
    • Family Alligatoridae
      • Genus Leidyosuchus (extinct)
      • Genus Deinosuchus (extinct)
      • Subfamily Alligatorinae
      • Subfamily Caimaninae
        • Genus Necrosuchus (extinct)
        • Genus Eocaiman (extinct)
        • Genus Paleosuchus
          • Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, Paleosuchus palpebrosus
          • Smooth-fronted Caiman, Paleosuchus trigonatus
        • Genus Purussaurus (extinct)
        • Genus Mourasuchus (extinct)
        • Genus Orthogenysuchus (extinct)
        • Genus Caiman
          • Yacare Caiman, Caiman yacare
          • Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus
            • Rio Apaporis Caiman, C. c. apaporiensis
            • Brown Caiman, C. c. fuscus
          • Caiman lutescans (extinct)
          • Caiman sorontans (extinct) - Not reported in the literature, probably a 'nomen nudum'
          • Broad-snouted Caiman, Caiman latirostris
        • Genus Melanosuchus
          • Melanosuchus fisheri (extinct)
          • Black Caiman, Melanosuchus niger
Advertisement