Protoalligator

Protoalligator Temporal range:Paleocene
Partial skull and jaw ofProtoalligator huiningensis,on display at thePaleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauromorpha
Clade:	Archosauriformes
Order:	Crocodilia
Superfamily:	Alligatoroidea
Clade:	Globidonta
Clade:	†Orientalosuchina
Genus:	†Protoalligator Wang, Sullivan & Liu, 2016
Species
†P. huiningensis(Young, 1962)
Synonyms
Eoalligator huiningensisYoung, 1962 (type)

Protoalligatoris anextinctgenusofalligatoroidcrocodilianfound in theAnhuiprovince of China and lived during thePaleocene.

Taxonomy

P. huiningensis,was originally namedEoalligator huiningensis,which therefore remains thetype speciesof the genus.But then a 2016 study of Chinese alligators by Wanget al.found thetype speciesEoalligator chunyiito be a juniorsynonymofAsiatosuchus nanlingensisand abasalmember ofCrocodylidae.However, a subsequent study by Wuet al.disagreed with the synonymy of"Asiatosuchus" nanlingensisandEoalligator chunyii,finding them to be distinct based on first-hand studies of theholotypesandcladisticanalysis, although they agreed in classifyingE. chunyiias acrocodyloid.In 2016, Wanget al.also foundEoalligator huiningensisto be analligatoroiddistinct fromE. chunyii,and thus movedEoalligator huiningensisto the new genusProtoalligator.

A 2019 study by Massonneet al.included additional taxa fromSoutheast Asiaand foundEoalligatorandProtoalligatorto be related and asbasalmembers ofAlligatoroidea,as shown in thecladogrambelow:

Alligatoroidea	Diplocynodontinae† Globidonta Leidyosuchus† Deinosuchus† Navajosuchus† Ceratosuchus† Stangerochampsa† Brachychampsa sealeyi† Brachychampsa montana† Orientalosuchina† Eoalligator† Jiangxisuchus† Protoalligator† Orientalosuchus† Krabisuchus† Alligatoridae Alligatorinae Caimaninae