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
Skull of Sebecus icaeorhinus
Skeleton of Ogresuchus
Scientific classification Edit this 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
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] They are thought to have served as apex terrestrial predators of their ecosystems.[7]

Phylogeny

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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".[8] The following cladogram simplified after Diego Pol and Jaime E. Powell (2011).[4]

Sebecosuchia

References

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  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. ^ a b 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. ^ Pochat-Cottilloux, Yohan; Martin, Jeremy E.; Faure-Brac, Mathieu G.; Jouve, Stéphane; de Muizon, Christian; Cubo, Jorge; Lécuyer, Christophe; Fourel, François; Amiot, Romain (1 September 2023). "A multi-isotopic study reveals the palaeoecology of a sebecid from the Paleocene of Bolivia". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 625: 111667. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111667. Retrieved 15 November 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  8. ^ 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.