| Tsoabichi Temporal range: Eocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Infraclass: | Archosauromorpha |
| Superorder: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Superfamily: | Alligatoroidea |
| Family: | Alligatoridae |
| Subfamily: | Caimaninae |
| Genus: | Tsoabichi Brochu, 2010 |
| Species | |
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Tsoabichi is an extinct genus of alligatoroid. Fossils are known from the Eocene Green River Formation in Wyoming, and date back to the Wasatchian. The genus was named and described in 2010, with the type species being T. greenriverensis. It is thought to be closely related to living caimans, and is probably within the subfamily Caimaninae.[1]
Some living caimans such as the Spectacled Caiman have a "spectacle", or a bony ridge between the eyes. Tsoabichi lacks a spectacle, but it does have three smaller ridges between the orbits, or eye sockets. In Tsoabichi, distinct rims are seen around the supratemporal fenestrae, two holes on the skull table. Much of the supraoccipital bone is also found on the skull table, and forms a V-shape. To either side of the V-shaped supraoccipitals are the parietal bones, which form the posterior margin of the skull table. Along the snout, the nasal bone forms a thin ridge, and narrows as it approaches the external naris where the nostrils are located.[1]
The dorsal osteoderms, or bony scutes along the back, are wider than those of other caimans. Some have two keels on their outer surface. Tsoabichi also has bipartite ventral osteoderms on its underside.[1]