Crocodylus affinis

Crocodylus affinis
"Crocodylus" affinis
Temporal range: Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
(unranked): Archosauria
Order: Crocodilia
Superfamily: Crocodyloidea
Genus: "Crocodylus"
Species: †"C." affinis
Binomial name
†"Crocodylus" affinis
Marsh, 1871
Synonyms
  • Crocodylus clavis Cope, 1883
  • Brachyuranochampsa zangerli Mook, 1962

"Crocodylus" affinis is an extinct species of crocodyloid from the Eocene of Wyoming. Fossils were first described from the Bridger Formation by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1871. Marsh described the species, along with every other species of crocodyloid in the Bridger Formation, under the genus Crocodylus.[1] Recent phylogenetic studies of crocodyloids show that "C." affinis is not a species of Crocodylus, but a genus has not yet been erected to include the species. Other Bridger species such as Crocodylus clavis and Brachyuranochampsa zangerli have been synonymized with "C." affinis.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ Mook, C.C. (1921). "Description of a skull of a Bridger crocodilian". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 44 (11): 111–116. http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/1728/1/B044a11.pdf. 
  2. ^ de Buffrenil, V.; and Buffetaut, E. (1981). "Skeletal growth lines in an Eocene crocodilian skull from Wyoming as an indicator of ontogenic age and paleoclimatic conditions". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 1 (1): 57–65. 
  3. ^ Brochu, C. A. (2000). "Phylogenetic relationships and divergence timing of Crocodylus based on morphology and the fossil record". Copeia 2000 (3): 657–673. 


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