Alligator relatives slipped across ancient seaways
Alligator relatives slipped across ancient seaways
March 4, 2013
The uplift of the Isthmus of Panama 2.6 million years ago formed a land-bridge that has long thought to be the crucial step in the interchange of animals between the Americas, including armadillos and giant sloths moving up into North America and relatives of modern horses, rabbits, foxes, pigs, cats, dogs, and elephants down into South America.
However, in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, researchers from the University of Florida and the Smithsonian Tropical Research institute describe fossil crocodilians that shed a surprising new light on the history of interchange and animal distributions between the Americas.
The fossils are partial skulls of two new species of caiman, relatives of alligators, who live exclusively in South America today. They were discovered in rocks dated from 19.83 and 19.12 million years old and that were exposed by excavations associated with the expansion of the Panama Canal.
"These are the first fossil crocodilian skulls recovered from all of Central America. They fill a gap in evolution between the alligators of North America and the caimans of South America. It's quite incredible." states lead author Alex Hastings, a fossil crocodilian specialist at Georgia Southern University.
More:
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-alligator-relatives-ancient-seaways.html#jCp
= new reply since forum marked as read
The creature looks just like today's gators.
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-alligator-relatives-ancient-seaways.html#jCp
