Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri

Melanosuchus niger (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) is one of the six living caimanine species widely distributed throughout the Amazon River basin today. Although there is only one extant species of Melanosuchus, fossil material assigned to this genus, represented by M. fisheri, has been reported from...

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Autores principales: Foth, Christian, Fernández Blanco, María Victoria, Bona, Paula, Scheyer, Torsten M.
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2018
Materias:
Paleontología
Amazonia
Caimaninae
Geometric morphometrics
Neogene
South America
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/124817
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-124817
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Paleontología
Amazonia
Caimaninae
Geometric morphometrics
Neogene
South America
spellingShingle Paleontología
Amazonia
Caimaninae
Geometric morphometrics
Neogene
South America
Foth, Christian
Fernández Blanco, María Victoria
Bona, Paula
Scheyer, Torsten M.
Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
topic_facet Paleontología
Amazonia
Caimaninae
Geometric morphometrics
Neogene
South America
description Melanosuchus niger (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) is one of the six living caimanine species widely distributed throughout the Amazon River basin today. Although there is only one extant species of Melanosuchus, fossil material assigned to this genus, represented by M. fisheri, has been reported from the late Miocene in South America. However, the validity of this taxon has been questioned and a recent investigation indicates that the referred specimen of M. fisheri (MCZ 4336) actually belongs to Globidentosuchus brachyrostris, while those diagnostic characters present in the holotype (MCNC 243) fall into the spectrum of intraspecific variation of M. niger. Here, we compare the skull shape of the holotype of M. fisheri with the ontogenetic series of the four jacarean species (M. niger, Caiman yacare, Caiman crocodilus, and Caiman latirostris) using 2D-geometric morphometric analyses in two different views. The analyses indicate that MCNC 243 falls into the morphospace of M. niger and C. latirostris. Despite strong shape similarities between juveniles of C. latirostris and MCNC 243, further anatomical comparisons reveal notable differences between them. In contrast, no concrete anatomical differences can be found between MCNC 243 and M. niger, although shape analyses indicate that MCNC 243 is relatively robust for its size. Thus, this study is able to confirm that the genus Melanosuchus was present in the late Miocene, but it still remains unclear if MCNC 243 should be treated as a junior synonym or probably a sister species of M. niger. Its Miocene age favors the second option, but as the shape analyses were also not able to extract any diagnostic characters, it should be retained as Melanosuchus cf. niger.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Foth, Christian
Fernández Blanco, María Victoria
Bona, Paula
Scheyer, Torsten M.
author_facet Foth, Christian
Fernández Blanco, María Victoria
Bona, Paula
Scheyer, Torsten M.
author_sort Foth, Christian
title Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
title_short Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
title_full Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
title_fullStr Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
title_full_unstemmed Cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (Crocodylia, Alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of Melanosuchus fisheri
title_sort cranial shape variation in jacarean caimanines (crocodylia, alligatoroidea) and its implications in the taxonomic status of extinct species: the case of melanosuchus fisheri
publishDate 2018
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/124817
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