Crocodylus checchiai

Crocodylus checchiai is an extinct species of crocodile from the Pliocene of Libya and the Miocene of Kenya. C. checchiai was named in 1957 from the Sahabi Formation. It is similar in appearance to the Nile crocodile C. niloticus and may even be the same species. Remains from the lower Nawata Formation in the Turkana Basin of Kenya that were first attributed to the Nile crocodile have now been reassigned to C. checchiai, extending its geographic and temporal range.[1]

Crocodylus checchiai
Temporal range: Late Miocene - early Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
Genus: Crocodylus
Species:
C. checchiai
Binomial name
Crocodylus checchiai
Maccagno, 1957

A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age),[2] along with genetic information collected from extinct Voay [3] produced the tree shown below:

Crocodylidae
Osteolaeminae

Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile

Euthecodon

Brochuchus

Rimasuchus

Osteolaemus osborni Congo dwarf crocodile

Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile

Crocodylinae

Voay

Crocodylus

Crocodylus anthropophagus

Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni

Crocodylus palaeindicus

Crocodylus Tirari Desert

Asia+Australia

Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile

Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile

Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile

Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile

Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile

Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile

Africa+New World

Crocodylus checchiai

Crocodylus falconensis

Crocodylus suchus West African crocodile

Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile

New World

Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile

Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile

Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile

Crocodylus acutus American crocodile

(crown group)

References

  1. Brochu, C. A.; Storrs, G. W. (2012). "A giant crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya, the phylogenetic relationships of Neogene African crocodylines, and the antiquity of Crocodylus in Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 587. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.652324.
  2. 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.
  3. Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642.


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