Menatalligator is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of alligatorid

Alligatoridae

Alligatoridae is a family of crocodylians that includes alligators and caimans.- True alligators :Alligators proper occur in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age. The true alligators are now restricted to two species, A...

 crocodilia

Crocodilia

Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period . They are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria...

n. Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s have been found that are Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 in age from a locality in the commune of Menat

Menat, Puy-de-Dôme

Menat is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-Gastronomy:The pâté aux pommes de terre and, the "pain des Combrailles" are specialities of the region.-References:*...

 in the Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...

 department of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The type

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 and only species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, named in 1937, is M. bergouniouxi.

The strata from which remains of Menatalligator have been found are part of the Chaîne des Puys

Chaîne des Puys

The Chaîne des Puys is a north-south oriented chain of cinder cones, lava domes, and maars in the Massif Central of France. The chain is about 40 km long, and the identified volcanic features include 48 cinder cones, eight lava domes, and 15 maars and explosion craters. Its highest point is...

, a volcanically active chain of mountains in the Massif Central

Massif Central

The Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....

. The deposit is thought to have formed through the deposition of sediments in a body of water that filled a volcanic crater

Volcanic crater

A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...

 during the early Eocene (Ypresian

Ypresian

In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between and , is preceded by the Thanetian age and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian age....

). Fossil fish such as Amia valenciennense

Bowfin

The Bowfin, Amia calva, is the last surviving member of the order Amiiformes , and of the family Amiidae...

and Thaumaturus

Thaumaturus

Thaumaturus is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish.-See also:* Prehistoric fish* List of prehistoric bony fish-External links:*...

have been found from the same strata as Menatalligator, and most likely comprised a portion of its diet. The presence of the early primate

Primate

A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

-like plesiadapiform

Plesiadapiformes

Plesiadapiformes is an extinct order of mammals. It is either closely related to the primates or a precursor to them. Many are too derived to be ancestral to primates, but the earliest Plesiadapiformes have teeth that are strongly indicative of a common ancestor...

 Plesiadapis insignis

Plesiadapis

Plesiadapis is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal species which existed about 58-55 million years ago in North America and Europe. Plesiadapis literally means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the Eocene lemuriform, Adapis...

from these strata also make the area important to the study of early mammalian evolution after the K–T boundary

K–T boundary

The K–T boundary is a geological signature, usually a thin band, dated to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma ago. K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous period, and T is the abbreviation for the Tertiary period...

.