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Gavialinae
Gavialinae is a subfamily of large semiaquatic crocodilian reptiles, resembling crocodiles, but with much thinner snouts. Gavialinae is one of the two major subfamilies within the family Gavialidae - the other being the subfamily Tomistominae, which contains the false gharial and extinct relatives. Classification Gavialinae was first proposed by Nopcsa in 1923, and was cladistically defined by Brochu in 2003 as ''Gavialis gangeticus'' (the gharial) and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to ''Tomistoma schlegelii'' (the false gharial). This is a stem-based definition for gavialinae, and means that it includes more basal extinct gavialine ancestors that are more closely related to the gharial than to the false gharial. The false gharial was once thought to be only distantly related to the gharial despite its similar appearance. The false gharial and other tomistomines were traditionally classified within the superfamily Crocodyloidea as close relatives of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavialidae
Gavialidae is a family (biology), family of large semiaquatic crocodilians with elongated, narrow snouts. Gavialidae consists of two extant taxon, living species, the gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus'') and the false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), both occurring in Asia. Many extinct members are known from a broader range, including the recently extinct ''Hanyusuchus''. Gavialids are generally regarded as lacking the jaw strength to capture the large mammalian prey favoured by crocodiles and alligators of similar size so their thin snout is best used to catch fish, however the false gharial has been found to have a Generalist and specialist species, generalist diet with mature adults preying upon larger vertebrates, such as Ungulate, ungulates. Taxonomy The family Gavialidae was proposed by Arthur Adams (zoologist), Arthur Adams in 1854 for reptiles with a very long and slender muzzle, webbed feet and nearly equal teeth. It is currently recognized as a crown group, meaning that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocepesuchus
''Ocepesuchus'' (meaning "Ocepe crocodile", in reference to the OCP, or Office Chérifien des Phosphates, a phosphate-mining company that participated in the excavation of the specimen) is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian, related to modern gharials. It lived in the Late Cretaceous of Morocco. Described by Jouve and colleagues in 2008, the type species is ''O. eoafricanus'', with the specific name meaning "dawn African" in reference to its great age relative to other African crocodilians. ''Ocepesuchus'' had a long snout with a tubular shape, wider than high. It is the oldest known true crocodilian from Africa.Other crocodile-like animals from older strata in Africa, like ''Sarcosuchus'', are not true crocodilians, but related animals. ''Ocepesuchus'' is based on OCP DEK-GE 45, a crushed but mostly complete skull from late Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous)-age rocks in the Oulad Abdoun Basin, in the vicinity of Khouribga, Morocco. The individual is interpreted as a small a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanyusuchus
''Hanyusuchus'' is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodilian from the Holocene of South China. It contains a single species, ''Hanyusuchus sinensis''. Reaching a total body length of , it shares characteristics of both tomistomines and derived gharials, such as a possibly sexually dimorphic vocal structure. Cut marks found on multiple fossil specimens, as well as archaeological evidence, suggest the presence of repeated conflicts between ''Hanyusuchus'' and humans. ''Hanyusuchus'' was a recent species, living in southern China from approximately the 4th millennium BC (during the Bronze Age) to as late as the 15th century AD, perhaps even later, when increased efforts of government officials and habitat destruction likely led to its extinction. Discovery and naming Fossils of ''Hanyusuchus'' were initially discovered between February 1963 and February 1980, with a total of 6 specimens ranging from skulls to postcrania and osteoderms being known. These however were dismissed as belo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eogavialis
''Eogavialis'' is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph, usually regarded as a gavialoid crocodylian. It superficially resembles ''Tomistoma schlegelii'', the extant false gharial, and consequently material from the genus was originally referred to ''Tomistoma''. Indeed, it was not until 1982 that the name ''Eogavialis'' was constructed after it was realised that the specimens were from a more basal form. Species The genus was first described by Charles William Andrews in 1901 when Andrews named a new species of ''Tomistoma'', ''T. africanum'', on the basis of a specimen found from an outcrop of the Qasr el-Sagha Formation in Egypt, about 20 miles northwest of Faiyum, dating back to the Priabonian stage of the late Eocene 37.2 to 33.9 million years ago. Other specimens were later found from the Gebel Qatrani Formation, slightly younger than the Qasr el-Sagha dating back to the Rupelian stage of the early Oligocene 33.9 to 28.4 million years ago, and near the locality wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhamphosuchus
''Rhamphosuchus'' ("Beak crocodile") is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodylians. It lived during the Pliocene and its fossils have been found in two regions; the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan and Northern India, India as well as the Sindh region of Pakistan. Its type species is ''Rhamphosuchus crassidens'', which is only known from incomplete sets of fossils, mostly teeth and skulls. Four species traditionally placed in the genus ''Gavialis'' may be included as well. Overview Traditionally, many palaeontologists estimated that it was one of the largest, if not the largest crocodylian that ever lived, reaching an estimated length of . However, a more recent study suggests that the animal may have been 8–11 m (26 to 36 ft) in length, and therefore is not the largest known crocodylian. Another crocodylian, ''Purussaurus'', from the Miocene of Peru and Brazil, is known from an equally incomplete fossil set. It is estimated to have been similar in length to the initial estimates at a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". What belongs to a family—or if a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family, but in plants, they can be characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant taxon, extant members of the order (biology), order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct taxa. Although they appear similar, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to separate biological family (biology), families. The gharial, with its narrow snout, is easier to distinguish, while Morphology (biology), morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is that the upp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocodilia
Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria. Members of the order's total group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared about 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period, and diversified during the Mesozoic era. The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles (family Crocodylidae), the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), and the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae). Although the term 'crocodiles' is sometimes used to refer to all of these, crocodilians is a less ambiguous vernacular term for members of this group. Large, solidly built, lizard-like reptiles, crocodilians have long flattened snouts, laterally compressed tails, and eyes, ears, and nostrils at the top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiaquatic
In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semiaquatic animals include: * Vertebrates ** Amphibious fish; also several types of normally fully aquatic fish such as the grunion and plainfin midshipman that spawn in the intertidal zone ** Some amphibians such as newts and salamanders, and some frogs such as fire-bellied toads and wood frogs. ** Some reptiles such as crocodilians, turtles, water snakes and marine iguanas. ** Penguins. ** Some rodents such as beavers, muskrats and capybaras. **Some insectivorous mammals such as desmans, water shrews and platypuses. ** Some carnivoran mammals, including seals, polar bears and otters. ** Hippopotamuses. * Semiterrestrial echinoderms of the intertidal zone, such as the "cliff-clinging" sea urchin ''Colobocentrotus atratus'' and the starfish '' Pisaster ochraceus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoological names with "-inae". See also * International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants * International Code of Zoological Nomenclature * Rank (botany) * Rank (zoology) In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. While ... Sources {{biology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toyotamaphimeia
''Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis'' (Toyotama-hime from Mountain Machikane ( :ja:待兼山)) is an extinct gavialid crocodylian which lived in Japan during the Pleistocene. A specimen recovered in 1964 at Osaka University during the construction of a new science building has been dated to around 430–380 thousand years old based on the stratum in which it was found. Unassigned species from same genus is also known from Taiwan. ''T. machikanensis'' was a fairly large crocodylian with a 1 m (3.3 ft) skull and a total length up to 7.7 m (25 ft). It was originally described as a member of the genus ''Tomistoma''. History and naming The first bones belonging to ''Toyotamaphimeia'' were discovered on May 3rd 1964 during the construction of a new school building on the grounds of Ôsaka University. A field survey was conducted shortly afterwards, confirming the presence of more fossils, however not yet identifying their crocodilian nature. Following the survey severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thoracosaurus
''Thoracosaurus'' is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph which existed during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene in North America and Europe. The taxon had traditionally been thought to be related to the modern false gharial, largely because the nasal bones contact the premaxillae. Phylogenetic work starting in the 1990s instead supported affinities within Gavialoidea exclusive of such forms, although a 2018 tip dating study simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data suggests that it might have been a non-crocodylian eusuchian. The genus contains the type species ''Thoracosaurus neocesariensis'' in North America, and what is either ''Thoracosaurus isorhynchus'' or ''Thoracosaurus macrorhynchus'' from Europe; a recent review argues that ''T. macrorhynchus'' is a junior synonym of ''T. isorhynchus,'' but it is unclear whether the type of ''T. isorhynchus'' allows differentiation of European and North American '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
