Eoalligator


Eoalligator is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilian from Paleocene deposits in China.

Systematics

Eoalligator was originally classified as an extinct relative of alligators. The holotype of E. chunyii, IVPP V2716, is a partial skeleton. A second nominal species, E. huiningensis, was described in 1982 from Anhui. In 2016, a re-assessment of Eocene crocodilian specimens assigned to Alligatoroidea showed that the Eoalligator type species was a crocodyloid similar to Asiatosuchus and that E. huiningensis was an alligatoroid, necessitating erection of Protoalligator for E. huiningensis. Eoalligator was synonymized with Asiatosuchus nanlingensis. Later, Wu et al. disagreed with the synonymy of "Asiatosuchus" nanlingensis and Eoalligator, finding them to be distinct based on first-hand studies of the holotypes and cladistic analysis, even though they followed Wang et al. in classifying Eoalligator as a crocodyloid.