Gavialoidea

Animalia

Gavialoidea
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Recent
Indian gharial, Gavialis gangeticus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Crocodylomorpha
Order: Crocodylia
Superfamily: Gavialoidea
Hay, 1930
Families

Gavialoidea is one of three superfamilies of crocodylians, the other two being Alligatoroidea and Crocodyloidea. Although many extinct species are known, only the gharial Gavialis gangeticus and possibly the False gharial Tomistoma schlegelii are alive today.

Classification

Gavialoidea contains the family Gavialidae and several more basal extinct forms such as Thoracosaurus and Eosuchus. Within Gavialidae are two subfamilies: Gavialidae, which includes the living gharial, and Gryposuchinae, which includes several extinct forms such as Gryposuchus and Aktiogavialis.[1]

In addition to these groups, recent molecular studies suggest that the False gharial and other forms belonging to the crocodylian subfamily Tomistominae may belong to Gavialoidea. As its name suggests, the False gharial is traditionally thought to be only distantly related to the gharial despite its similar appearance. The False gharial and other tomistomines are traditionally classified within the superfamily Crocodyloidea as close relatives of crocodiles. This classification is upheld by morphological evidence, which, when incorporated into phylogenetic analyses, often place the group within Crocodyloidea.[2]

Below is a cladogram from Vélez-Juarbe et al. (2007) showing the phylogenetic relationships of members of Gavialoidea, excluding tomistomines.[1]

Gavialoidea 

Eothoracosaurus




Thoracosaurus




Eosuchus



Argochampsa


Gavialidae 

Eogavialis




Gavialis


Gryposuchinae 

Ikanogavialis



Piscogavialis



Siquisiquesuchus



Gryposuchus



Aktiogavialis








References

  1. ^ a b Vélez-Juarbe, Jorge; Brochu, C.A.; and Santos, H. (2007). "A gharial from the Oligocene of Puerto Rico: transoceanic dispersal in the history of a non-marine reptile". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274 (1615): 1245–1254. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.0455. PMC 2176176. PMID 17341454. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1615/1245.full. 
  2. ^ Gatesy, Jorge; Amato, G.; Norell, M.; DeSalle, R.; and Hayashi, C. (2003). "Combined support for wholesale taxic atavism in gavialine crocodylians". Systematic Biology 52 (3): 403–422. doi:10.1080/1063515035019703. http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~mmaduro/seminarpdf/GatesyetalSystBiol2003.pdf.