Caiman latirostris

The broad-snouted caiman is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae found in eastern and central South America, including the Pantanal habitat of Bolivia, Southeast Brazil, and Paraguay, as well as northern Argentina and Uruguay. Behind the black caiman, it is the second-largest caiman species; it is the third-largest alligatorid behind the American alligator and the aforementioned black caiman. Primarily, the species inhabits freshwater wetlands, including floodplains, marshes, swamps, and some mangrove forests, as well as various streams, rivers, lakes or ponds, preferring bodies of rather still or slower-moving water. They will often use man-made cow ponds, disused stock tanks, and canals and ditches, as well.

Caiman latirostris

Miguelrangeljr · CC BY 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
broud-snouted caimanPBDB
Sits inside
CaimanPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 6 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 6 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 2 of 6 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.333 Mya129 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

6 occurrences of Caiman latirostris on record. 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

6 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

5 formations

Ituzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WChaco — 24.25°S, 66.92°WPalo Pintado — 25.65°S, 66.07°WPiquete — 25.73°S, 64.87°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.27°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Caiman latirostris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

183 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Caiman latirostris, 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

6 references

Each of the 6 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. 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 content2

Picture of Caiman latirostris

Credit
Miguelrangeljr
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
CAIMAN LATIROSTRIS · UMMZ:Herps:155287

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 timeThe world it lived on

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