Sebecidae

Sebecidae is an extinct family of prehistoric terrestrial sebecosuchian crocodylomorphs, known from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Europe, South America and the Caribbean. They were the latest surviving group of non-crocodilian crocodylomorphs. Sebecids are colloquially known as land crocodiles.

Sebecidae

Ghedoghedo · 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
Sits inside
SebecoideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 54 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 41 occurrencesPaleocene — about 4 of 41 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 20 of 41 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 41 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 10 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 41 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 41 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 3 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 3 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 2 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–30 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–20 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–8.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.8–6.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61.66 Mya7.246 Mya67 Mya2 Mya

41 occurrences of Sebecidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

41 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

20 formations

Sarmiento — 45.40°S, 67.72°WSarmiento — 43.75°S, 69.58°WSarmiento — 45.40°S, 67.75°WSarmiento — 45.33°S, 68.00°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.57°S, 76.27°WLumbrera — 23.25°S, 65.58°WLumbrera — 25.83°S, 65.45°WLumbrera — 25.72°S, 65.40°WDivisadero Largo — 32.87°S, 68.94°WVillavieja — 3.28°N, 75.20°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WGeste — 26.06°S, 67.41°WParángula — 8.63°N, 70.23°WSanta Lucía — 17.98°S, 65.60°WRío Loro — 26.60°S, 65.16°WMaiz Gordo — 26.07°S, 65.37°WIpururo — 10.56°S, 73.13°WScripps — 32.89°N, 117.25°WSantiago — 32.90°N, 117.10°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WGuabirotuba — 25.51°S, 49.34°WMealla — 23.22°S, 65.68°WYanigüa-Los Haitises — 18.91°N, 69.75°WLagunitas — 21.62°N, 79.53°WJuana Diaz — 18.02°N, 66.85°W

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The named rock units Sebecidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sebecidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Sebecidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

369 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Sebecidae, 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

23 references

Each of the 41 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. 11 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 content1

Picture of Sebecidae

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itSebecoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Savage 1951