Caimaninae

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Subdivisio: Pseudosuchia
Superordo: Crocodylomorpha
Ordo: Crocodilia
Subordo: Eusuchia

Familia: Alligatoridae
Subfamilia: Caimaninae
Genera: Caiman - Melanosuchus - Paleosuchus - †Chinatichampsus

Name

Caimaninae Brochu, 1999
Vernacular names
Deutsch: Kaimane
English: Caimans
suomi: Kaimaanit
magyar: Kajmánformák
ไทย: เคแมน

A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling)[1] is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within Alligatoridae, the other being alligators.

Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America from marshes and swamps to mangrove rivers and lakes. Caimans have scaly skin and live a fairly nocturnal existence.

They are relatively small-sized crocodilians with an average maximum weight of 6 to 40 kg (13 to 88 lb) depending on species, with the exception of the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), which can grow more than 4 m (13 ft) in length and weigh up to 500 kg (1,100 lb). The black caiman is the largest caiman species in the world and is found in the slow-moving rivers and lakes that surround the Amazon basin. The smallest species is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus palpebrosus), which grows to 1.2 to 1.5 m (3.9 to 4.9 ft) long. There are six different species of caiman found throughout the watery jungle habitats of Central and Southern America. The average length for most of the other caiman species is about 2 to 2.5 m (6.6 to 8.2 ft) long.

Caimans are distinguished from alligators, their closest relatives, by a few defining features: a lack of a bony septum between the nostrils, ventral armor composed of overlapping bony scutes formed from two parts united by a suture, and longer and sharper teeth than alligators, plus caimans tend to be more agile and crocodile-like in their movements.[2] The calcium rivets on caiman scales make their hides stiffer and thus less valuable than those of alligators and crocodiles, both of which have a similar appearance, but are more pliable.[3] Several extinct forms are known, including Purussaurus, a giant Miocene genus that grew to 12 m (39 ft) and the equally large Mourasuchus, which had a wide duck-like snout.[4]

Behavior
Spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

The caimans are predators and, like alligators and the crocodiles, their diet consists of a great deal of fish. The caimans also hunt insects, birds and small mammals and reptiles.

Due to the large size and ferocious nature of the caimans, they have few natural predators within their environments. Humans are the main predators of the caimans as they have been hunted for their meat and skin. Jaguars and anacondas are the only other predators of the caimans, but they prey only on the smaller specimens. During summer or droughts, the caiman may dig a burrow and go into a form of summer hibernation called aestivation.

Female caimans build a large nest in which to lay their eggs. These nests can be more than 1.5 m (4.9 ft) wide. Female caimans lay between 10 and 50 eggs, which hatch within about six weeks. Once they have hatched, the mother caiman takes her young to a shallow pool of water, where they can learn how to hunt and swim.
Broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris)
Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare)
Taxonomy

• Subfamily Caimaninae
  • Genus †Acresuchus
  • Genus †Brachychampsa^[5]
  • Genus †Bottosaurus^[6]
  • Genus †Centenariosuchus
  • Genus †Chinatichampsus
  • Genus †Protocaiman
  • Genus †Kuttanacaiman
  • Genus †Gnatusuchus
  • Genus †Culebrasuchus
  • Genus †Eocaiman
  • Genus †Globidentosuchus
  • Genus Paleosuchus
    • P. palpebrosus, Cuvier's dwarf caiman
    • P. trigonatus, smooth-fronted caiman
  • Genus †Purussaurus
  • Genus †Mourasuchus
  • Genus †Necrosuchus
  • Genus †Orthogenysuchus
  • Genus †Tsoabichi
  • Genus Caiman
    • C. yacare, yacare caiman
    • C. crocodilus, spectacled caiman
      • C. c. crocodilus, spectacled caiman
      • C. c. apaporiensis, Rio Apaporis caiman
      • C. c. fuscus, Brown caiman
    • †C. lutescens
    • †C. venezuelensis
    • †C. wannlangstoni
    • †C. brevirostris
    • C. latirostris, broad-snouted caiman
  • Genus Melanosuchus
    • †M. fisheri
    • M. niger, black caiman

Phylogeny

Caimaninae is cladistically defined as Caiman crocodylus (the spectacled caiman) and all species closer to it than to Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator).[7][8] This is a stem-based definition for caimaninae, and means that it includes more basal extinct caimanine ancestors that are more closely related to living caimans than to alligators.

Below is a cladogram showing the phylogeny of Caimaninae, modified from Hastings et al. (2013).[9]
 
 

†Stangerochampsa mccabei       †Brachychampsa montana     †Brachychampsa sealeyi      Alligatoridae    Alligatorinae    Caimaninae    †Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus       †Eocaiman cavernensis       †Tsoabichi greenriverensis   crown group caimans     Paleosuchus palpebrosus Cuvier's dwarf caiman     Paleosuchus trigonatus Smooth-fronted caiman           †Centenariosuchus gilmorei       †Purussaurus neivensis       †Mourasuchus spp.     †Orthogenysuchus olseni               Caiman crocodilus Spectacled caiman     Caiman yacare Yacare caiman         Caiman latirostris Broad-snouted caiman     †Caiman lutescens       †Melanosuchus fisheri     Melanosuchus niger Black caiman

 
 
 
References

Dictionary.com, retrieved February 16, 2021
Guggisberg, C.A.W. (1972). Crocodiles: Their Natural History, Folklore, and Conservation. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-7153-5272-4.
Mendal, Abram. "Comparing Exotic Leathers: American Alligator vs. Caiman Skins". Archived from the original on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
Brochu, C. A. (1999). "Phylogenetics, Taxonomy, and Historical Biogeography of Alligatoroidea". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir. 6: 9–100. doi:10.2307/3889340. JSTOR 3889340.
Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (2021-09-06). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
Adam P. Cossette (2020). "A new species of Bottosaurus (Alligatoroidea: Caimaninae) from the Black Peaks Formation (Palaeocene) of Texas indicates an early radiation of North American caimanines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 191: 276–301. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz178.
Brochu, C. A. (2003). "Phylogenetic approaches toward crocodylian history" (PDF). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 31 (31): 357–97. Bibcode:2003AREPS..31..357B. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141308.
Brochu, C. A. (2011). "Phylogenetic relationships of Necrosuchus ionensis Simpson, 1937 and the early history of caimanines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S228–S256. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00716.x.
Hastings, A. K.; Bloch, J. I.; Jaramillo, C. A.; Rincon, A. F.; MacFadden, B. J. (2013). "Systematics and biogeography of crocodylians from the Miocene of Panama". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (2): 239. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.713814. S2CID 83972694.