Charactosuchus Explained

Charactosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. It was assigned to the family Crocodylidae in 1988.^[1] Specimens have been found in Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, and possibly Florida and South Carolina. It was gharial-like in appearance with its long narrow snout but bore no relation to them, being more closely related to modern crocodiles than to gharials.^[2]

Species

South America

The type species, C. fieldsi, has been found from the Villavieja Formation at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte La Venta in Colombia and dates back to the Middle Miocene (Laventan). It has also been found in the Mayoan to Montehermosan Urumaco Formation at Urumaco in Venezuela,^[3] and in the Solimões Formation in Acre State, Brazil,^[4] along with C. sansoai,^[5] and the possible species C. mendesi (sometimes assigned to Brasilosuchus).^[6]

Caribbean

In 1969, a lower jaw of a crocodilian that dated back to the Lutetian stage of the Eocene was found in the Chapelton Formation of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, and was described as belonging to a new species of Charactosuchus named C. kugleri.^{[7] [8]} However, this species may be considered synonymous with Dollosuchus, according to later papers.^[9]

North America

Isolated teeth thought to be from the genus have been found from Florida and South Carolina and are of early Pliocene age.^[10] This was thought to be evidence of the interchange between North and South American faunas, with the genus first appearing in North America and then migrating down into Colombia and Brazil.^[11] This theory is no longer accepted,^[12] although the presence of Charactosuchus from Jamaica may suggest a European origin, with the genus migrating across either the De Geer or Thule land bridges.^[13]

External links

• Charactosuchus in the Paleobiology Database

Notes and References

1. Carroll, R. L.(1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. WH Freeman and Company, New York
2. Langston . W. . 1965 . Fossil crocodilians from Colombia and the Cenozoic history of the Crocodilia in South America . University of California Publications in Geological Sciences . 52 . 1–169 .
3. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=315620 Charactosuchus
4. 10.1016/j.jsames.2006.03.005 . Cozzuol . M. A. . 2006 . The Acre vertebrate fauna: Age, diversity, and geography . Journal of South American Earth Sciences . 21 . 3. 185–203 . 2006JSAES..21..185C .
5. Souza Filho, J. P. (1991). Charactosuchus sansaoi, uma nova espécie de Crocodilidae (Crocodylia) do Neógeno do Estado o Acre, Brasil. Actas do XII Congreso Brasileiro de Paleontologia, 36.
6. Souza Filho . J.P. . Bocquentin . J. . 1989 . Brasilosuchus mendensi n.g., n.sp., um novo representante da familia Gavialidae do Neógeno do Estado do Acre, Brasil . Anais do XI Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologia . 1 . 457–463 .
7. Donovan . S. K. . Domning . D. P. . Garcia . F. A. . Dixon . H. L. . 1990 . A bone bed from the Eocene of Jamaica . . 64 . 660–662 . 10.1017/S0022336000042700 .
8. Portell, R. W., Donovan, S. K., and Domning, D. P. (2001). Early Tertiary vertebrate fossils from seven Rivers, Parish of St. James, Jamaica, and their biogeographical implications. Biogeography of the West Indies 191-200
9. Domning, D. P. and Clark, J. M. (1993). Jamaican Tertiary marine Vertebrata. In: R.M. Wright and E. Robinson (eds.), Biostratigraphy of Jamaica. Geological Society of America Memoir 182:413–415.
10. Webb . S.D. . Tessman . N. . 1967 . Vertebrate evidence of a low sea level in the middle Pliocene . Science . 156 . 3773 . 379. 17812382 . 10.1126/science.156.3773.379 . 1967Sci...156..379W . 22850761 .
11. Estes, R. and Báez, A. (19850. Herpetofaunas of North and South America during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic: evidence for interchange? In: F.G. Stehli and S.D. Webb (eds.), The Great American Biotic Interchange, 139–197. Plenum Press, New York.
12. Langston, W. and Gasparini, Z. (1997). Crocodilians, Gryposuchus and the South American gavials. In: R.F. Kay, R.H. Madden, R.L. Cifelli, and J. Flynn (eds.), Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics. The Miocene fauna of La Venta, Colombia, 113–154. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
13. Agustí, J. and Antón, B. 2002. Mammoths, Sabretooths and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. 313 pp. Columbia Univ. Press, New York