Alligator mississippiensis

The American alligator, sometimes referred to as a common alligator or just gator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the genus Alligator, and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator.

Alligator mississippiensis

User:Postdlf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
American alligatorPBDB
Sits inside
AlligatorPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 9.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 12.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 5 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 21 of 29 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 2 of 29 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10.0–9.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.1–8.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.7–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.2–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.7–1.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.3–867 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences867 ka–433 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences433 ka–0 Mya — about 17 occurrences9.4 Mya11.7 ka13 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Alligator mississippiensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

29 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Goliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WGoliad — 28.53°N, 97.74°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Alligator mississippiensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alligator mississippiensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Alligator mississippiensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

778 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Alligator mississippiensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

25 references

Each of the 29 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 13 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Alligator mississippiensis

Credit
User:Postdlf
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Alligator mississippiensis · ouvc:10389

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlligator through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Daudin 1801)