Melanosuchus
Melanosuchus, from Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas), meaning "black", and σούχος (soúkhos), meaning "crocodile", is a genus of caiman. The genus is most commonly referred to as the "Black Caimans". The black caiman of South America is the sole extant (living) species, and is the largest living member of the subfamily Caimaninae, as well as the entire alligator family Alligatoridae.
Species
Black Caiman
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassCrocodylia
- FamilyAlligatoridae
Observations1,574
via GBIF
Article
3 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Phylogeny
- References
Melanosuchus, from Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas), meaning "black", and σούχος (soúkhos), meaning "crocodile", is a genus of caiman. The genus is most commonly referred to as the "Black Caimans". The black caiman of South America is the sole extant (living) species, and is the largest living member of the subfamily Caimaninae, as well as the entire alligator family Alligatoridae.
==Taxonomy== There are two known valid species of Melanosuchus, one extant and one extinct: Melanosuchus niger (Spix, 1825) – known as the Black caiman, native to the Amazon basin of South America Melanosuchus latrubessei Souza-Filho et al., 2020 – discovered in the Solimões Formation of Brazil, dating from the Upper Miocene