Sebecia

{{Short description|Extinct clade of reptiles}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Cretaceous - Late Miocene/Early Pliocene, {{fossilrange|90|5}} | image = Sebecus icaeorhinus.JPG | image_caption = Skull of ''Sebecus icaeorhinus'' | taxon = Sebecia | authority = Larsson and Sues, 2007 | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = * {{extinct}}''Baharijodon'' * {{extinct}}''Doratodon''? * {{extinct}}''Trematochampsa''? * {{extinct}}''Wanosuchus'' * {{extinct}}Mahajangasuchidae * {{extinct}}Peirosauridae * {{extinct}}Sebecidae }}

'''Sebecia''' is an extinct clade of mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliforms that includes peirosaurids and sebecids. It was first constructed in 2007 to include ''Hamadasuchus'', Peirosauridae, and ''Sebecus''. It was initially considered to be the sister taxon of the clade Neosuchia, which includes living crocodilians, although some later studies have placed it within Neosuchia as a basal clade.<ref name=LAS07>{{cite journal |last=Larsson |first=H. C. E. |author2=Sues, H.-D. |year=2007 |title=Cranial osteology and phylogenetic relationships of ''Hamadasuchus rebouli'' (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Cretaceous of Morocco |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=149 |issue=4 |pages=533–567 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00271.x|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=SL09>{{cite journal |last=Sereno |first=P. C. |author2=Larsson, H. C. E. |year=2009 |title=Cretaceous crocodyliforms from the Sahara |journal=ZooKeys |issue=28 |pages=1–143 |url=http://pensoftonline.net/zookeys/index.php/journal/article/view/325 | doi = 10.3897/zookeys.28.325|doi-access=free |bibcode=2009ZooK...28....1S }}</ref> Sebecians were terrestrial crocodyliforms characterized by their deep snouts and ziphodont dentition. They first appeared in the Late Cretaceous, survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and became extinct in the Miocene or early Pliocene epoch, making them a highly successful and long-lived group.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Viñola López |first1=Lázaro W. |last2=Velez-Juarbe |first2=Jorge |last3=Münch |first3=Philippe |last4=Almonte Milan |first4=Juan N. |last5=Antoine |first5=Pierre-Olivier |last6=Marivaux |first6=Laurent |last7=Jimenez-Vasquez |first7=Osvaldo |last8=Bloch |first8=Jonathan |date=2025 |title=A South American sebecid from the Miocene of Hispaniola documents the presence of apex predators in early West Indies ecosystems |journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences |volume=292 |issue=2045 |article-number=20242891 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2024.2891 |issn=1471-2954 |pmc=12040450 |pmid=40300627}}</ref>

According to paleontologists Hans Larsson and Hans-Dieter Sues, who constructed the clade in 2007, Sebecia also includes genera that were once assigned to Baurusuchidae, namely ''Pabwehshi''. However, other baurusuchids, namely ''Baurusuchus'', were placed outside Sebecia. Therefore, Baurusuchidae was considered polyphyletic and thus not a true clade. Juan Leardi and colleagues in 2024 defined '''Sebecia''' in the ''PhyloCode'' as "the most inclusive clade including ''Sebecus icaeorhinus'' and ''Lomasuchus palpebrosus'', but not ''Baurusuchus pachecoi'', ''Notosuchus terrestris'', and ''Crocodylus niloticus''".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Leardi |first1=J. M. |last2=Pol |first2=D. |last3=Montefeltro |first3=F. |last4=Marinho |first4=T. S. |last5=Ruiz |first5=J. V. |last6=Bravo |first6=G. G. |last7=Pinheiro |first7=A. E. P. |last8=Godoy |first8=P. L. |last9=Nicholl |first9=C. S. C. |last10=Lecuona |first10=A. |last11=Larsson |first11=H. C. E. |title=Phylogenetic nomenclature of Notosuchia (Crocodylomorpha; Crocodyliformes) |year=2024 |journal=Bulletin of Phylogenetic Nomenclature |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=44–82 |doi=10.11646/bpn.1.3.2 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Below is the cladogram produced from Larsson and Sues' phylogenetic analysis:<ref name=LAS07/>

{{clade| style=font-size:80%;line-height:80% |label1=Metasuchia |1={{clade |label1=Notosuchia |1={{clade |1=''Notosuchus'' |2=''Malawisuchus''}} |2={{clade |1=''Araripesuchus'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Baurusuchus'' |2={{clade |1=Neosuchia |label2='''Sebecia''' |2={{clade |1=''Pabwehshi'' |2={{clade |label1=Sebecidae |1={{clade |1=''Sebecus'' |2=''Bretesuchus''}} |2=Peirosauridae }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

Larsson and Sues defined Sebecidae as all taxa more closely related to ''Sebecus'' than to ''Peirosaurus'' or ''Uberabasuchus'', both of which are peirosaurids. They defined Peirosauridae as all taxa more closely related to ''Peirosaurus'' and ''Uberabasuchus'' than to ''Sebecus'', which is a sebecid. This definition is problematic, especially in relation to later phylogenetic studies of crocodyliforms. Many of these studies have found sebecids to be derived members of a clade containing notosuchians, while finding peirosaurids to be basal neosuchians. If the definitions of these two families are applied to later phylogenetic analyses, Sebecidae would include all notosuchians and Peirosauridae would include all neosuchians.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Late Cretaceous first appearances Category:Miocene extinctions Category:Crocodyliformes