| Crocodylus falconensisRango fósil: ~5,332 Ma-3,6 Ma 
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 Plioceno medio (Montehermosano-Chapadmalalano) |
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| Clasificación científica |
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| Reino: | Animalia |
| Filo: | Chordata |
| Clase: | Reptilia |
| Orde: | Crocodilia |
| Familia: | Crocodylidae |
| Xénero: | *Crocodylus* |
| Especie: | *†**Crocodylus falconensis***Scheyer *et al.*, 2013 |

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***Crocodylus falconensis*** é unha especie extinta de crocodilo de inicios do Plioceno atopado na parte inferior do Membro Vergel da formación San Gregorio de Venezuela. *C. falconensis* recibiu o seu nome polo estado Falcón de Venezuela e pénsase que é a especie máis basal de *Crocodylus* atopado no Neotrópico.

Descrición
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*C. falconensis* era un crocodilo de mediano tamaño cunha forma do cranio xeneralista e robusta. As órbitas e as fiestras supratemporais son notablemente menores que as doutras especies de *Crocodylus* da mesma idade, mentres que as narinas son comparablemente máis grandes (pero aínda pequenas en relación co tamaño total do cranio). A premaxila rodea as narinas completamente, impedindo que os ósos nasais as contacten. Outra característica diferencial de *Crocodylus falconensis* con outras especies do xénero é que o supraoccipital acada ou polo menos case acada o foramen magnum. O cranio aproximadamente triangular tiña unha prominente amosega localizada detrás das narinas para recibir uns dos dentes dentarios agrandados e o centro do rostrum contiña unha prominente protuberancia ósea. Dita protuberancia pode tamén atoparse nas especies hoxe existentes do Neotrópico, como *Crocodylus acutus*. As estimacións de tamaño de *C. falconensis* son de 4,12 m de longo cun peso de 307 kg.

Evolución
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A análise filoxenética inicial de Scheyer e colegas situou a *C. falconensis* como a especie máis basal dos *Crocodylus* da Novo Mundo e taxon irmán de todas as seguintes especies das Américas. Isto foi interpretado como que *C. falconensis* foi o primeiro ou un dos primeiros membros do xénero que cruzou o Atlántico, e todas as outras especies de *Crocodylus* neotropicais radiarían desde Suramérica. Un estudo publicado en 2020, que se centraba na situación filoxenética da especie africana *Crocodylus checchiai* obtivo resultados lixeiramente diferentes. Nas súas análises, as especies de *Crocodylus* neotropicais mantiñan o seu estado monofilético e aínda aparecían como orixinadas a partir de especies africanas que tiveron que cruzar o Atlántico, considerando *C. checchiai* como o probable precursor do Vello Mundo da liñaxe americana debido á súa morfoloxía similar, incluíndo a prominente protuberancia dorsal. Porén, os seus resultados diferían dos da análise inicial de Scheyer en que *C. falconensis*, a pesar de ser o máis antigo, non aparecía como a especie neotropical máis basal (este papel foi enchido polo crocodilo do Orinoco (*Crocodylus intermedius*) en Delfino *et al.* 2020).

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|  *Crocodylus*  | 

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|   | *C. palaeindicus* |
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|  Indopacífico  | 

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|   | *C. palustris* |
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|   | *C. siamensis* |
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|   | *C. porosus* |
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|   | *C. mindorensis* |
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|   | *C. johnsoni* |
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|   | *C. novaeguineae* |
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|  África‑Novo Mundo  | 

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|   | *C. niloticus* |
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|  Novo Mundo  | 

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|   | ***C. falconensis*** |
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|   | *C. moreletii* |
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|   | *C. rhombifer* |
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|   | *C. acutus* |
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|   | *C. intermedius* |
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|  *Crocodylus*  | 

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|   | *C. palaeindicus* |
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|  Indopacífico  | 

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|   | *C. palustris* |
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|   | *C. siamensis* |
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|   | *C. mindorensis* |
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|   | *C. porosus* |
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|   | *C. johnsoni* |
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|   | *C. novaeguineae* |
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|  África‑Novo Mundo  | 

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|   | *C. niloticus* |
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|   | *C. checchiai* |
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|   | *C. intermedius* |
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|   | ***C. falconensis*** |
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|   | *C. rhombifer* |
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|   | *C. acutus* |
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|   | *C. moreletii* |
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En 2021, Hekkala *et al.* conseguiron facer un estudo paleoxenómico extraendo ADN do fósil *Voay*, para establecer mellor as relacións dentro de Crocodylidae, incluíndo as subfamilias Crocodylinae e Osteolaeminae. Os seus resultados tamén atoparon unha estreita conexión entre os *C. checchiai* do Mioceno de África e os *C. falconensis* do Plioceno, situándoos como taxons irmáns. Porén, estes resultados fan que a orixe dos *Crocodylus* neotropicais sexa relativamente máis escura, xa que os dous grupos de especies xuntos na base do clado africano-americano serían menos derivados que calquera das dúas especies existentes africanas. Seguir estes resultados en vez dos de Scheyer ou Delfino implicaría dous episodios de dispersión distintos en América.

Paleofauna da formación San Gregorio, con *Crocodylus falconensis* en (8)

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| *Crocodylus* | 

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|   | *Crocodylus anthropophagus*† |
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|   | *Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni*† |
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|   | *Crocodylus palaeindicus*† |
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|   | *Crocodylus* do deserto de Tirari† |
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| Asia+Australia | 

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|   | *Crocodylus johnstoni* |
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|   | *Crocodylus novaeguineae* |
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|   | *Crocodylus mindorensis* |
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|   | *Crocodylus porosus* |
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|   | *Crocodylus siamensis* |
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|   | *Crocodylus palustris* |
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| África+Novo Mundo | 

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|   | *Crocodylus checchiai*† |
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|   | ***Crocodylus falconensis***† |
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|   | *Crocodylus suchus* |
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|   | *Crocodylus niloticus* |
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| Novo Mundo | 

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|   | *Crocodylus moreletii* |
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|   | *Crocodylus rhombifer* |
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|   | *Crocodylus intermedius* |
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|   | *Crocodylus acutus* |
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Paleoecoloxía
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*C. falconensis* atopouse no Membro Vergel da formación San Gregorio, Venezuela, que se coñece pola súa rica fauna de siluros. A abundancia de peixes fósiles interpretouse como que durante o Plioceno esta rexión estaba en gran medida cuberta por chairas de inundación e ríos entrelazados, probablemente xunto con algunhas zonas boscosas e outros diversos corpos de auga como lagoas, pantanos, áreas inundadas e mesmo estuarios como indica a presenza de máis animais tolerantes ao sal. *Crocodylus falconensis* probablemente habitaría tanto auga doce coma salobre. Outros animais atopados na rexión eran varios notoungulados, xenartros como glipotodontes e preguiceiros trestres, así como grandes roedores relacionados coas modernas capibaras.

Notas
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1. 1 2 3  Scheyer, T. M.; Aguilera, O. A.; Delfino, M.; Fortier, D. C.; Carlini, A. A.; Sánchez, R.; Carrillo-Briceño, J. D.; Quiroz, L.; Sánchez-Villagra, M. R. (2013). "Crocodylian diversity peak and extinction in the late Cenozoic of the northern Neotropics" (PDF). *Nature Communications* **4**: 1907. PMID 23695701. doi:10.1038/ncomms2940.
2. ↑  Delfino, M.; Iurino, D.A.; Mercurio, B.; Piras, P.; Rook, L.; Sardella, R. (2020). "Old African fossils provide new evidence for the origin of the American crocodiles". *Scientific Reports* **10**. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-68482-5.
3. ↑  Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". *Communications Biology* (en inglés) **4** (1): 1–11. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8079395 `|pmc=` incorrecto (Axuda). doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0.
4. ↑  Carrillo-Briceño, Jorge D.; Sánchez, Rodolfo; Scheyer, Torsten M.; Carrillo, Juan D.; Delfino, Massimo; Georgalis, Georgios L.; Kerber, Leonardo; Ruiz-Ramoni, Damián; Birindelli, José L. O.; Cadena, A, Edwin-Alberto; Rincón, ldo F.; Chavez-Hoffmeister, Martin; Carlini, Alfredo A.; Carvalho, Mónica R.; Trejos-Tamayo, Raúl; Vallejo, Felipe; Jaramillo, Carlos; Jones, Douglas S.; Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R. (2021). "A Pliocene–Pleistocene continental biota from Venezuela". *Swiss Journal of Palaeontology* **140** (9). doi:10.1186/s13358-020-00216-6.

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| Identificadores taxonómicos | 
* EOL: 42334994
* Fossilworks: 273330
* GBIF: 8491147

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