Caimans

species of reptile

thumb|right|Spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) thumb|right|Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) thumb|right|Black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) thumb|right|Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus palpebrosus) thumb|right|Smooth-fronted caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus)

species of reptile

Paleosuchus (from Ancient Greek παλαιός (palaiós), meaning "old", and Σοῦχος (Soûkhos), meaning "Sobek") is a South American genus of reptiles in the subfamily Caimaninae of the family Alligatoridae. They are the smallest members of the order Crocodilia in the Americas.

Mourasuchus is an extinct genus of giant, aberrant caiman from the Miocene of South America. Its skull has been described as duck-like, being broad, flat, and very elongate, superficially resembling Stomatosuchus from the Late Cretaceous.

Globidentosuchus is an extinct genus of basal caimanine crocodylian known from the late Middle to Late Miocene of the Middle and the Upper Members of the Urumaco Formation at Urumaco, Venezuela. Its skull was very short and robust, with large units of spherical teeth used to break the shells of molluscs as part of its durophagus diet. It is thought to be one of the most basal Caimanines, even sharing some traits with alligatorids.

Gnatusuchus is an extinct genus of caiman represented by the type species Gnatusuchus pebasensis from the Middle Miocene Pebas Formation of Peru. Gnatusuchus lived about 13 million years ago (Ma) in a large wetland system called the Pebas mega-wetlands that covered over one million square kilometers of what is now the Amazon Basin (the modern basin had not yet developed at that time and instead of draining from west to east into the Atlantic Ocean, river systems drained northward through the wetlands and into the Caribbean Sea).

Eocaiman is an extinct genus of caiman containing species living from the Early Paleocene to Miocene in what is now Argentina (Salamanca and Sarmiento Formations), Itaboraí Formation of Brazil and Colombia (Honda Group). Eocaiman contains three described species: E. cavernensis, E. palaeocenicus, and E. itaboraiensis, and is typically recovered as one of the more basal members of Caimaninae. Notocaiman was synonymized with Eocaiman paleocenicus in 2022.

Orthogenysuchus is an extinct genus of caimanine alligatorids. Fossils have been found from the Wasatch Beds of the Willwood Formation of Wyoming, deposited during the early Eocene. The type species is O. olseni. The holotype, known as AMNH 5178, is the only known specimen belonging to the genus and consists of a skull lacking the lower jaws. The braincase is filled in by the matrix and most of the suture lines between bones are indiscernible, making comparisons with other eusuchian material difficult.