Eoalligator

Eoalligator is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilian from Paleocene deposits in China.

Eoalligator
Temporal range: Early Paleocene, 65.5–59 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Subfamily: Alligatorinae
Genus: †Eoalligator
Young, 1964
Type species
†Eoalligator chunyii
Young, 1964
Species
  • †E. chunyii Young, 1964 (type)

Systematics

Eoalligator was originally classified as an extinct relative of alligators. The holotype of E. chunyii, IVPP V2716, is a partial skeleton.[1] A second nominal species, E. huiningensis, was described in 1982 from Anhui.[2] In 2016, a re-assessment of Eocene crocodilian specimens assigned to Alligatoroidea showed that the Eoalligator type species was a crocodyloid similar to Asiatosuchus and that E. huiningensis was an alligatoroid, necessitating erection of Protoalligator for E. huiningensis. Eoalligator was synonymized with Asiatosuchus nanlingensis.[3] Later, Wu et al. (2017) disagreed with the synonymy of "Asiatosuchus" nanlingensis and Eoalligator, finding them to be distinct based on first-hand studies of the holotypes and cladistic analysis, even though they followed Wang et al. (2016) in classifying Eoalligator as a crocodyloid.[4]

References
  1. Young CC. 1964. New fossil crocodiles from China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 5:189-208
  2. Young CC. 1982. A Cenozoic crocodile from Huaining, Anhui. Selected Works of Yang Zhongjian. China: Academia Sinica. 47-48.
  3. Wang Y, Sullivan C, Liu J. (2016) Taxonomic revision of Eoalligator (Crocodylia, Brevirostres) and the paleogeographic origins of the Chinese alligatoroids. PeerJ 4:e2356 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2356
  4. Xiao-Chun Wu; Chun Li; Yan-Yin Wang (2017). Taxonomic reassessment and phylogenetic test of Asiatosuchus nanlingensis Young, 1964 and Eoalligator chunyii Young, 1964. Vertebrata PalAsiatica. in press.
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