Alligator mefferdi

Alligator mefferdi
Temporal range: Miocene, 13.8–10.3 Ma[1]
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Alligatorinae
Genus: Alligator
Species:
†A. mefferdi
Binomial name
†Alligator mefferdi
C.C. Mook, 1946

Alligator mefferdi is an extinct species of alligator described by Charles Craig Mook. They lived in the Miocene period, and their range was principally in what is now Nebraska, United States.[2][3] The type specimen was discovered in the Ash Hollow Formation at Ash Hollow State Historical Park.[2]

Classification

A. mefferdi is a member of the subfamily Alligatorinae, within the larger family Alligatoridae. Phylogenetic studies have found A. mefferdi to be most closely related to the living American alligator,[4][1] as shown in the cladogram below:[5][6]

Alligatoridae

Measurements

The average measurements for the skull of A. mefferdi are 298 x 170 millimeters. Based on the length, the estimated body mass was 34.6 kg.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c [1] Fossilworks
  3. ^ "Alligators may not have changed much in 8 million years". Mashable UK. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  4. ^ Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071. PMC 6030529. PMID 30051855.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Brochu, C. A. (2011). "Phylogenetic relationships of Necrosuchus ionensis Simpson, 1937 and the early history of caimanines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S228–S256. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00716.x.


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