Caiman crocodilus

The spectacled caiman, also known as the white caiman, common caiman, and speckled caiman, is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. It is brownish-, greenish-, or yellowish-gray colored and has a spectacle-like ridge between its eyes, which is where its common name come from. It grows to a length of 1.4–2.5 m and a weight of 7–40 kg (15–88 lb), with males being both longer and heavier than females. Its diet varies seasonally, commonly consisting of crabs, fish, small mammals, amphibians and snails. Breeding occurs from May to August and 14–40 eggs are laid in July and August. This crocodilian has a large range and population; it is native to much of Latin America, and has been introduced to the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

Caiman crocodilus

Berrucomons · 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
Common caimanPBDB
Sits inside
CaimanPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 3.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 774 ka.

Miocene — about 1 of 2 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 2 occurrencesPleistocene12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.0–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.8–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.1–669 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.246 Mya3.6 Mya12.1 Mya274 ka

2 occurrences of Caiman crocodilus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

2 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

2 formations

Mesa — 9.85°N, 63.33°WSolimões — 9.05°S, 68.77°W

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The named rock units Caiman crocodilus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Caiman crocodilus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Caiman crocodilus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

8 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Caiman crocodilus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Caiman crocodilus

Credit
Berrucomons
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itCaiman through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758