Sebecidae

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 Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Middle Miocene, 67.6–11.8 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
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
†Ayllusuchus †Barinasuchus †Bretesuchus †Dentaneosuchus[1] †Eremosuchus? †Ilchunaia? †Langstonia †Lorosuchus †Ogresuchus †Sahitisuchus †Sebecus †Zulmasuchus
Synonyms
Bretesuchidae Gasparini, Fernandez & Powell, 1993

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]

Phylogeny

Juan Leardi and colleagues in 2024 defined Sebecidae in PhyloCode as "the least inclusive clade containing Sebecus icaeorhinus, Bretesuchus bonapartei, Barinasuchus arveloi, and Sahitisuchus fluminensis".^[7] The following cladogram simplified after Diego Pol and Jaime E. Powell (2011).^[4]

Sebecosuchia	Pehuenchesuchus Cynodontosuchus Baurusuchidae Pabwehshi Stratiotosuchus Baurusuchus pachecoi Baurusuchus salgadoensis Bergisuchidae Bergisuchus Iberosuchidae Iberosuchus Sebecidae Lorosuchus Barinasuchus Ayllusuchus Bretesuchus Lumbrera form Langstonia Sebecus Zulmasuchus

References

1. Martin, J. E.; Pochat-Cottilloux, Y.; Laurent, Y.; Perrier, V.; Robert, E.; Antoine, P.-O. (2023). "Anatomy and phylogeny of an exceptionally large sebecid (Crocodylomorpha) from the middle Eocene of southern France". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (4): e2193828. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2193828. S2CID 258361595.
2. Sellés, A. G.; Blanco, A.; Vila, B.; Marmi, J.; López-Soriano, F. J.; Llácer, S.; Frigola, J.; Canals, M.; Galobart, À. (2020). "A small Cretaceous crocodyliform in a dinosaur nesting ground and the origin of sebecids". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): Article number 15293. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1015293S. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-71975-y. PMC 7499430. PMID 32943663.
3. Martin, Jeremy E.; Pochat-Cottilloux, Yohan; Laurent, Yves; Perrier, Vincent; Robert, Emmanuel; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier (2022-10-28). "Anatomy and phylogeny of an exceptionally large sebecid (Crocodylomorpha) from the middle Eocene of southern France". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (4). Bibcode:2022JVPal..42E3828M. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2193828. ISSN 0272-4634.
4. Diego Pol and Jaime E. Powell (2011). "A new sebecid mesoeucrocodylian from the Rio Loro Formation (Palaeocene) of north-western Argentina". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S7–S36. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00714.x. hdl:11336/69518.
5. Liccardo, Antonio, and Luiz Carlos Weinschütz. "Registro inédito de fósseis de vertebrados na Bacia Sedimentar de Curitiba (PR) Archived 2015-06-02 at the Wayback Machine." Revista Brasileira de Geociências 40.3 (2010): 330-338.
6. Salias-Gismondi, R.; Antoine, P. O.; Baby, P.; Brusset, S.; Benammi, M.; Espurt, N.; de Franceschi, D.; Pujos, F.; et al. (2007). Middle Miocene Crocodiles From the Fitzcarrald Arch, Amazonian Peru (PDF). Instituto Geológical y Minero de España. p. 4. ISBN 978-84-7840-707-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
7. Leardi, J. M.; Pol, D.; Montefeltro, F.; Marinho, T. S.; Ruiz, J. V.; Bravo, G. G.; Pinheiro, A. E. P.; Godoy, P. L.; Nicholl, C. S. C.; Lecuona, A.; Larsson, H. C. E. (2024). "Phylogenetic nomenclature of Notosuchia (Crocodylomorpha; Crocodyliformes)". Bulletin of Phylogenetic Nomenclature. 1 (3): 44–82. doi:10.11646/bpn.1.3.2.

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