Kuttanacaiman

Kuttanacaiman is a monotypic genus of extinct caiman represented by the type species Kuttanacaiman iquitosensis. "Kuttanacaiman" lived in what is now the Amazon basin during the Middle Miocene, approximately 13 million years ago (Ma). The species was named in 2015 on the basis of one nearly complete skull and a second partial skull from the Pebas Formation near Iquitos, Peru. "K. iquitosensis" is characterized by a short, rounded snout and blunt teeth at the back of its jaws that were likely adapted to crushing freshwater bivalves. Its estimated total body length is .
Etymology.
The genus name comes from the Quechua word "kuttana", meaning "grinding or crushing machine", and its species name honors the Iquitos native peoples.
Habitat.
"Kuttanacaiman" lived in Amazonia at a time before the Amazon River Basin was established; in its place was a massive wetland, called the Pebas Mega-Wetland System, that covered an approximate area of over in a drainage basin east of the still forming Andes, which at the time were experiencing rapid uplift in certain parts. "Kuttanacaiman" coexisted with six other crocodylian species, including two other caiman species with crushing dentitions: "Gnatusuchus pebasensis" and "Caiman wannlangstoni". Shells belonging to the bivalve genus "Pachydon" form thick fossil beds in the Pebas Formation and may have been a food source for "Kuttanacaiman" and these other caimans in swamps and marshes.
Taxonomy.
A phylogenetic analysis published in 2015 indicates that "Kuttanacaiman" is one of the most basal members of the clade Caimaninae. Other basal caimanines such as "Gnatusuchus" and "Globidentosuchus" also possess crushing teeth, suggesting that this type of dentition was ancestral for the clade. Later caimanines, including most living species in the genus "Caiman", have more generalized dentitions, but some species such as "C. wannlangstoni" and "C. latirostris" seem to have re-evolved crushing dentitions. Below is a cladogram showing this evolutionary pattern, with crushing-dentition caimanine species in bold: