| Tsoabichi | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tsoabichi greenriverensis cast at Fossil Butte National Monument, Lincoln County, Wyoming | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | Archosauriformes |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Family: | Alligatoridae |
| Subfamily: | Caimaninae |
| Genus: | †Tsoabichi Brochu, 2010 |
| Type species | |
| †Tsoabichi greenriverensis Brochu, 2010
| |
Tsoabichi (from Shoshone "tso’abichi’", meaning "monster") is an extinct genus of caimanine crocodylian. Fossils are known from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, and date back to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene (Wasatchian stage of North American age). The genus was named and described in 2010 by paleontologist Christopher A. Brochu, with the type species being Tsoabichi greenriverensis.[2] According to the current understanding of caiman evolutionary relationships, Tsoabichi is a basal member of 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]
- ^ Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
- ^ Brochu, C.A. (2010). "A new alligatorid from the lower Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming and the origin of caimans". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (4): 1109–1126. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.483569. S2CID 129231903.
- ^ Hastings, A. K.; Bloch, J. I.; Jaramillo, C. A.; Rincon, A. F.; MacFadden, B. J. (2013). "Systematics and biogeography of crocodylians from the Miocene of Panama". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (2): 239. Bibcode:2013JVPal..33..239H. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.713814. S2CID 83972694.