Procaimanoidea

Procaimanoidea
Temporal range: Eocene,
46.2–41.2 Ma[1]
↓
Fossil specimen of P. utahensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Alligatorinae
Genus: †Procaimanoidea
Gilmore, 1946
Species
  • †P. utahensis Gilmore, 1946 (type)
  • †P. kayi (Mook, 1941 [originally Hassiacosuchus kayi])

Procaimanoidea ("Before Caiman-forms") is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Eocene of North America. It was named posthumously in 1946 by Charles W. Gilmore; the type species is P. utahensis, from the Uintan (middle Eocene) of Utah. It is based on USNM 15996, a nearly complete skull and partial left hind leg.[2] A second species, P. kayi, was named in 1941 by C.C. Mook as a species of Hassiacosuchus, for remains from the Bridgerian (early Eocene) of Wyoming.[3] It was reassigned to Procaimanoidea in 1967 by Wassersug and Hecht.[4]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Gilmore, Charles W. "A new crocodilian from the Eocene of Utah". Journal of Paleontology. 20 (1): 62–67.
  3. ^ Mook, C.C. (1941). "A new crocodilian, Hassiacosuchus kayi, from the Bridger Eocene beds of Wyoming". Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 28: 207–220. doi:10.5962/p.330789. S2CID 251510549.
  4. ^ Wassersug, R.J.; Hecht, M.K. (1967). "The status of the crocodylid genera Procaimanoidea and Hassiacosuchus in the New World". Herpetologica. 23 (1): 30–34.