Caiman

Caimans are predators and, like alligators and crocodiles, their diet largely consists of fish. Caimans also hunt insects, birds, small mammals and reptiles.

Due to their large size and ferocious nature, caimans have few natural predators within their environments. Humans are their main predators, because the animals have been hunted for their meat and skin. Jaguars, anacondas and crocodiles are the only other predators of caimans, although they usually prey on the smaller specimens or specific species of caiman such as the Spectacled Caiman and Yacare caiman. During summer or droughts, caimans may dig a burrow and go into a form of summer hibernation called aestivation.

Female caimans build a large nest in which to lay their eggs. The nests can be more than {{convert|1.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide. Female caimans lay between 10 and 50 eggs, which hatch within about six weeks. Once they have hatched, the mother caiman takes her young to a shallow pool of water, where they can learn how to hunt and swim. The juveniles of spectacled caiman have been shown to stay together in pods for up to 18 months.{{Cite journal |last=Gorzula |first=S. J. |date=1978 |title=An Ecological Study of Caiman crocodilus crocodilus Inhabiting Savanna Lagoons in the Venezuelan Guayana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4215651 |journal=Oecologia |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=21–34 |jstor=4215651 |issn=0029-8549}}

File:Jacare de papo amarelo zoo.jpg (Caiman latirostris)]]

Caimaninae is cladistically defined as Caiman crocodylus (the spectacled caiman) and all species closer to it than to Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator).{{cite journal |last=Brochu |first=C. A. |year=2003 |title=Phylogenetic approaches toward crocodylian history |journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |volume=31 |issue=31 |pages=357–97 |doi=10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141308 |bibcode=2003AREPS..31..357B |url=http://www.naherpetology.org/pdf_files/970.pdf |access-date=2021-07-26 |archive-date=2015-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402192747/http://www.naherpetology.org/pdf_files/970.pdf |url-status=usurped }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Brochu | first1 = C. A. | doi = 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00716.x | title = Phylogenetic relationships of Necrosuchus ionensis Simpson, 1937 and the early history of caimanines | journal = Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume = 163 | pages = S228–S256 | year = 2011 | doi-access = free }} This is a stem-based definition for caimaninae, and means that it includes more basal extinct caimanine ancestors that are more closely related to living caimans than to alligators. The clade Jacarea includes the most derived caimans, being defined as the last common ancestor of Caiman latirostris (Broad-snouted caiman), Caiman crocodilus (Spectacled caiman), Caiman yacare (Yacare caiman), Melanosuchus niger (Black caiman), and all its descendants.

Below is a cladogram showing the phylogeny of Caimaninae, modified from Hastings et al. (2013).{{Cite journal | last1 = Hastings | first1 = A. K. | last2 = Bloch | first2 = J. I. | last3 = Jaramillo | first3 = C. A. | last4 = Rincon | first4 = A. F. | last5 = MacFadden | first5 = B. J. | title = Systematics and biogeography of crocodylians from the Miocene of Panama | doi = 10.1080/02724634.2012.713814 | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 33 | issue = 2 | pages = 239 | year = 2013 | bibcode = 2013JVPal..33..239H | s2cid = 83972694 | doi-access = free }}

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|1={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Stangerochampsa mccabei

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Brachychampsa montana

|2={{extinct}}Brachychampsa sealeyi}}

|label3=Alligatoridae

|3={{clade

|1=Alligatorinae

|label2=Caimaninae

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Eocaiman cavernensis

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Tsoabichi greenriverensis

|label2=crown group caimans

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Paleosuchus palpebrosus Cuvier's dwarf caiman

|2=Paleosuchus trigonatus Smooth-fronted caiman }}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Centenariosuchus gilmorei

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Purussaurus neivensis

|2={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Mourasuchus spp.

|2={{extinct}}Orthogenysuchus olseni}} }} }}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Caiman crocodilus Spectacled caiman

|2=Caiman yacare Yacare caiman }}

|2={{clade

|1=Caiman latirostris Broad-snouted caiman

|2={{extinct}}Caiman lutescens

|3={{clade

|1={{extinct}}Melanosuchus fisheri

|2=Melanosuchus niger Black caiman }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

Here is an alternative cladogram from Bona et al. 2018.{{Cite journal|author1=Paula Bona |author2=Martín D. Ezcurra |author3=Francisco Barrios |author4=María V. Fernandez Blanco |year=2018 |title=A new Palaeocene crocodylian from southern Argentina sheds light on the early history of caimanines |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=285 |issue=1885 |pages=20180843 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.0843 |pmid=30135152 |pmc=6125902 }}

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|label1=Alligatoridae

|sublabel1=(crown group)

|1={{clade

|1=Alligatorinae (stem-based group)

|label2=Caimaninae

|sublabel2=(stem-based group)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Stangerochampsa{{extinct}}

|2=Albertochampsa{{extinct}}

|3=Brachychampsa{{extinct}} }}

|2={{clade

|1=Protocaiman{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1=Gnatusuchus{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1=Globidentosuchus{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Eocaiman{{extinct}}

|2=Notocaiman{{extinct}} }}

|2={{clade

|1=Kuttanacaiman{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Purussaurus{{extinct}}

|2=Mourasuchus{{extinct}} }}

|label2=crown group caimans

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Necrosuchus{{extinct}}

|2=Tsoabichi{{extinct}}

|3={{clade

|1=Paleosuchus trigonatus Smooth-fronted caiman

|2=Paleosuchus palpebrosus Cuvier's dwarf caiman }} }}

|2={{clade

|1=Centenariosuchus{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Caiman latirostris Broad-snouted caiman

|2=Melanosuchus niger Black caiman }}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Caiman yacare Yacare caiman

|2=Caiman crocodilus Spectacled caiman }}

|2={{clade

|1=Caiman brevirostris{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1=La Venta Caiman{{extinct}}

|2=Caiman wannlangstoni{{extinct}}

}} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

The Late Cretaceous taxa Stangerochampsa, Brachychampsa and Albertochampsa have been previously referred to as stem-group caimans, but Walter et al. (2022) recovered them as the basalmost alligatorines based on phylogenetic analysis and claimed that the earliest definitive stem-group caimans are known from the earliest Paleocene.{{cite journal| vauthors = Walter J, Darlim G, Massonne T, Aase A, Frey E, Rabi M |year=2022 |title=On the origin of Caimaninae: insights from new fossils of Tsoabichi greenriverensis and a review of the evidence |journal=Historical Biology |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=580–595 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2021.1938563 |s2cid=238723638 }} A different study by Adam Cossette and David Tarailo in 2024 recovered Brachychampsa and relatives in a clade at the base of Caimaninae. They named this clade Brachychampsini, defining it as "the largest clade of alligatorids more closely related to Brachychampsa montana than to Caiman crocodilus or Alligator mississippiensis".

• Chinese alligator

{{Reflist}}

{{Crocodilia|A.}}

{{Extinct Crocodilia|A.}}

{{Crocs}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q478759}}

Category:Alligatoridae

Category:Selandian first appearances

Category:Extant Selandian first appearances

mk:Кајмани