Sebecidae
Extinct family of reptiles / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sebecidae is an extinct family of prehistoric terrestrial sebecosuchian crocodylomorphs, known from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Europe and South America. They were the latest surviving group of non-crocodilian crocodylomorphs.
Sebecids | |
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Skull of Sebecus icaeorhinus | |
Skeleton of Ogresuchus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Archosauria |
Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
Clade: | Crocodyliformes |
Clade: | †Notosuchia |
Clade: | †Sebecosuchia |
Clade: | †Sebecia |
Family: | †Sebecidae Simpson, 1937 |
Subgroups | |
Synonyms | |
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The oldest known member of the group is Ogresuchus furatus known from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tremp Formation (Spain).[2] Other records of the group are known from the Eocene of Europe.[3] Sebecids were diverse, abundant and broadly distributed in South America (mostly in Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia) during the Cenozoic, from the Paleocene until the Middle Miocene;[4] although it has been suggested that at least some forms could have survived until the Miocene-Pliocene boundary in Brazil.[5]
This group included many medium- and large-sized genera, from Sebecus to the giant 6-metre-long (20 ft) Barinasuchus from the Miocene.[6]