''Gavialis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

crocodylian 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 ...

s that includes the living gharial ''Gavialis gangeticus'' and one known extinct species, '' Gavialis bengawanicus.'' ''G. gangeticus'' comes from the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, while ''G. bengawanicus'' is known from

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

. ''Gavialis'' likely first appeared in the Indian Subcontinent in the Pliocene and dispersed into the Malay Archipelago through a path called the Siva–Malayan route in the Quaternary. Remains attributed to ''Gavialis'' have also been found on Sulawesi and

Woodlark Island Woodlark Island, known to its inhabitants simply as Woodlark or Muyua, is the main island of the Woodlark Islands archipelago, located in Milne Bay Province and the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea. Although no formal census has been conducted sinc ...

east of the

Wallace Line The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a trans ...

, suggesting a prehistoric lineage of ''Gavialis'' was able to traverse marine environments and reach places possibly as far as western

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

. The genus ''Gavialis'' was reevaluated in 2018 based on specimens in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

that were collected in the

Sivalik Hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the India ...

. The author concluded that ''G. gangeticus'' and '' G. bengawanicus'' are the only two species in the genus ''Gavialis'', with '' G. hysudricus'' as a junior synonym of ''G. gangeticus.'' ''

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 India as well as the Sindh region of Pakistan. Its ...

'' is proposed to include '' G. leptodus'', '' G. pachyrhynchus'', '' G. curvirostris'' and '' G. breviceps''. The species '' G. browni'' and '' G. lewisi'' require further revisions. ''G. dixoni'' has been assigned its own genus, '' Dollosuchus.''Swinton, W. E. (1937). "The crocodile of Maransart (Dollosuchus dixoni wen". ''Mémoires du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique''. 80: 1–44. The below

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

of the major extant crocodile groups is based on the latest molecular studies, and shows the gharial's close relationship to the false gharial, and how the

gavialids Gavialidae is a family of large semiaquatic crocodilians with elongated, narrow snouts. Gavialidae consists of two living species, the gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus'') and the false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), both occurring in Asia. ...

and

crocodiles Crocodiles (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 memb ...

are more closely related than the alligatoroids: Here is a more detailed cladogram that shows ''Gavialis's'' proposed placement within

Gavialidae Gavialidae is a family of large semiaquatic crocodilians with elongated, narrow snouts. Gavialidae consists of two living species, the gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus'') and the false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), both occurring in Asia. Ma ...

, including extinct members:

References

Gavialidae Extant Burdigalian first appearances Reptile genera Reptile genera with one living species {{archosaur-stub