Alligator mississippiensis Daudin, 1809

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 43

Alligator mississippiensis Daudin, 1809

AGE: Pleistocene-Recent ( Brochu, 1999).

OCCURRENCE: North America.

SPECIMENS: AMNH (herpetology collection) 43316, skull and skeleton; AMNH 40583, articulated skull; AMNH 40584, disarticulated skull.

REMARKS: The entire anatomy of Alligator has been described in full detail (e.g., Owen, 1850). Additionally, various authors (e.g., Witmer, 1997) used Alligator and avians as end members to phylogenetically bracket Archosauria and infer behavior, soft tissue anatomy, and function in basal archosaurs. I use Alligator to represent Mesoeucrocodylia.