Charactosuchus
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Charactosuchus Temporal range: ?Eocene & Mid-Late Miocene or ?Early Pliocene ~48.6–3.6 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Family: | Crocodylidae |
| Genus: |
†Charactosuchus Langston, 1965 |
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Charactosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. It was assigned to the family Crocodylidae in 1988. Specimens have been found in Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, and possibly Florida and South Carolina. It was gharial-like in appearance with its long narrow snout but bore no relation to them, being more closely related to modern crocodiles than to gharials.
The type species, C. fieldsi, has been found from the Villavieja Formation at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte La Venta in Colombia and dates back to the Middle Miocene (Laventan). It has also been found in the Mayoan to Montehermosan Urumaco Formation at Urumaco in Venezuela, and in the Solimões Formation in Acre State, Brazil, along with C. sansoai, and C. mendesi (originally assigned to Brasilosuchus).
In 1969, a lower jaw of a crocodilian that dated back to the Lutetian stage of the Eocene was found in the Chapelton Formation of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, and was described as belonging to a new species of Charactosuchus named C. kugleri. However, this species may be considered synonymous with Dollosuchus, according to later papers.
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