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Additionally, several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains. Alligators first appeared during the late Eocene epoch about 37 million years ago. [1] The term "alligator" is likely an anglicized form of el lagarto, Spanish for "the lizard", which early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida called the alligator. [2]
An alligator nest at Everglades National Park, Florida, United States Alligator olseni forelimb Alligator prenasalis fossil. The superfamily Alligatoroidea is thought to have split from the crocodile-gharial lineage in the late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago, but possibly as early as 100 million years ago based on molecular phylogenetics.
Basilosaurus, one of the first of the giant whales, appeared in the fossil record. 38 Ma Earliest bears. 37 Ma First nimravid ("false saber-toothed cats") carnivores — these species are unrelated to modern-type felines. First alligators and ruminants. 35 Ma Grasses diversify from among the monocot angiosperms; grasslands begin to expand.
The American alligator was first classified in 1801 by French zoologist François Marie Daudin as Crocodilus mississipiensis.In 1807, Georges Cuvier created the genus Alligator for it, [14] based on the English common name alligator (derived from Spanish word el lagarto, "the lizard").
Fossils show that the form of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) has remained virtually unchanged in the last 8 million years, as if it had simply opted out of evolution.
It was first described as a species of Eoalligator in 1982 before being placed in its own genus in 2016. The name, which translates to "first alligator", was meant to carry on the same meaning as that of Eoalligator ("dawn alligator") as the latter was thought to be synonymous with another crocodilian by the team describing it.
Alligators and crocodiles differ in some key ways, from their scales to teeth to snout shape and beyond. Watch the latest video from A-Z-Animals to discover fascinating facts about these two ...
The Chinese alligator split from the American alligator about 33 million years ago [8] and likely descended from a lineage that crossed the Bering land bridge during the Neogene. The modern American alligator is well represented in the fossil record of the Pleistocene. [9] The alligator's full mitochondrial genome was sequenced in the 1990s. [10]