Caiman brevirostris

Caiman brevirostris is an extinct species of caiman that lived during the Late Miocene, around 11.6 million years ago, to the end of the Miocene 5.3 million years ago in Acre and Amazonas, Brazil as well as Urumaco, Venezuela. Several specimens have been referred to the species, but only 3 of them are confidently placed in the species. C. brevirostris was originally named in 1987 on the basis of a single, incomplete rostrum with an associated mandibular ramus that had been found in Acre, Brazil. C. brevirostris is very distinct among Caiman species and caimaninae overall in that it preserves a characteristically short and robust skull that bears blunt posterior teeth that were built to break down harder foods. This was an adaption for durophagy, likely to crush shells of mollusks and clams which were common in the wetlands that C. brevirostris resided in.

No picture of Caiman brevirostris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Caiman brevirostris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CaimanPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 6.3 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 11.63 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 3 of 3 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.9–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.5–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–9.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.0–8.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.7–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–8.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.0–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.5–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.8–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–6.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.0–5.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.8–5.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.1 Mya4.8 Mya

3 occurrences of Caiman brevirostris on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

3 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Solimões — 8.78°S, 68.90°WSolimoes — 9.07°S, 68.66°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.22°W

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The named rock units Caiman brevirostris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Caiman brevirostris and its relatives

Miocene

Where Caiman brevirostris and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

23 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Caiman brevirostris, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Caiman brevirostris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Caiman brevirostris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Caiman brevirostris was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCaiman through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Souza Filho 1987