Menatalligator
Menatalligator is an extinct genus of alligatorid crocodilian. Fossils have been found that are Eocene in age[1] from a locality in the commune of Menat in the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. The type and only species, named in 1937, is M. bergouniouxi.
Menatalligator Temporal range: Eocene | |
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Genus: | Menatalligator Piton, 1937 |
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The strata from which remains of Menatalligator have been found are part of the Chaîne des Puys, a volcanically active chain of mountains in the Massif Central. The deposit is thought to have formed through the deposition of sediments in a body of water that filled a volcanic crater during the early Eocene (Ypresian). Fossil fish such as Amia valenciennense and Thaumaturus have been found from the same strata as Menatalligator, and most likely comprised a portion of its diet. The presence of the early primate-like plesiadapiform Plesiadapis insignis from these strata also make the area important to the study of early mammalian evolution after the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–T boundary).[2]
References
- Marckwick, P. J. (1998). "Crocodilian diversity in space and time: The role of climate in paleoecology and its implication for understanding K/T Extinctions". Paleobiology. 24 (4): 470–497.
- Alain Tourreau (2002). "Les temps géologiques vus de l'Auvergne". De la Chaîne des Puys au Volcan de Jaude Volume 2 of Terres vivantes d'Auvergne. Editions Creer. pp. 7–31.