Named By: | Charles W. Gilmore in 1946 |
Time Period: | Eocene |
Location: | USA, Utah and Wyoming - Green River Formation |
Size: | Uncertain, but thought to be small |
Diet: | Carnivore |
Fossil(s): | Holotype established from a skull and partial left hind leg. Additionally remains have since been attributed to the genus |
Classification: | | Chordata | Reptilia | Crocodilia | Alligatoridae | Alligatorinae | |
Also known as: | | Hassiacosuchus kayi | |
Procaimanoidea ("Before Caiman-forms") is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Eocene of North America. It was named posthumously in 1946 by Charles W. Gilmore; the type species is P. utahensis, from the Uintan (middle Eocene) of Utah. It is based on USNM 15996, a nearly complete skull and partial left hind leg. A second species, P. kayi, was named in 1941 by C.C. Mook as a species of Hassiacosuchus, for remains from the Bridgerian (early Eocene) of Wyoming. It was reassigned to Procaimanoidea in 1967 by Wassersug and Hecht. Procaimanoidea was a small alligatorid, and slightly heterodont, the last four teeth on each side of the jaws having blunt tips.