Crocodylus checchiai

Crocodylus checchiai is an extinct species of crocodile from the Miocene to Pliocene of Libya and Kenya. C. checchiai was named in 1947 based on a skull from the Sahabi Formation. 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 range. The morphology of the species, in particular the pronounced rostral boss, indicates that it may be the connecting link between African and American species of the genus Crocodylus.

Crocodylus checchiai

Delfino, M., Iurino, D.A., Mercurio, B. et al. · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

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

Time the record covers

At most 8.1 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 11.63 Mya and 3.6 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 5 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 5 occurrencesPliocene12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 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 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–8.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.8–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.7–6.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.4–6.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.8–5.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.5–5.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12.1 Mya3.1 Mya

5 occurrences of Crocodylus checchiai 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

5 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

4 formations

Sahabi — 30.50°N, 17.50°ESahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ESegui — 33.22°N, 1.17°E

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

Crocodylus checchiai and its relatives

Miocene

Where Crocodylus checchiai and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

136 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Crocodylus checchiai, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

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

4 references

Each of the 5 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 content1

Picture of Crocodylus checchiai

Credit
Delfino, M., Iurino, D.A., Mercurio, B. et al.
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Crocodylus checchiai 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 itCrocodylus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Maccagno 1947