Ikanogavialis

Ikanogavialis is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodilian. Fossils have been found in the Urumaco Formation in Urumaco, Venezuela and the Solimões Formation of Brazil. The strata from which remains are found are late Miocene in age, rather than Pliocene as was once thought. A possible member of this genus survived into the Late Holocene on Muyua or Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea. Ikanogavialis had a dorsoventrally deep snout and a distinctive notch between the dentary and maxillary alveoli. The external nares projected anterodorsally from the rostrum. This can be seen as a plesiomorphic characteristic in crocodilians, but given that the earliest gavialoids possessed dorsally projecting external nares, this feature can be seen as having been a reversal from the gavialoid apomorphy back to the crocodilian plesiomorphy rather than having been directly obtained from an early crocodilian ancestor. The type species of Ikanogavialis is I. gameroi. It was named in 1970 from material found from the Urumaco formation of Venezuela, South America. Additionally, a Pleistocene gavialoid found on Woodlark Island of Papua New Guinea was initially named Gavialis papuensis in 1905, but has since been proposed to be a member of Ikanogavialis, although the poor quality of the preserved material makes it difficult to determine. Ikanogavialis may have lived in a coastal paleoenvironment along with other gavialids such as Gryposuchus. The strata of the Urumaco formation were deposited in both marine and fluvial settings, although it is unclear to which portion both genera belong. Other gavialoids such as Siquisiquesuchus and Piscogavialis are known to have lived in coastal environments, and it is likely that extant freshwater gavialoids such as Gavialis may have originated from these coastal forms. Ikanogavialis also existed with many other crocodilians in Venezuela during the late Miocene including the giant caiman Purussaurus and an extinct species of Melanosuchus. "Gavialis" / Ikanogavialis papuensis was similarly fully marine, having been found in association with sea turtles and sirenians.

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Related concepts (20)

Eosuchus

Eosuchus ("dawn crocodile") is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph, traditionally regarded as a gavialoid crocodilian. It might have been among the most basal of all gavialoids, lying crownward of all other known members of the superfamily, including earlier putative members such as Thoracosaurus and Eothoracosaurus. Fossils have been found from France as well as eastern North America in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. The strata from which specimens have been found date back to the late Paleocene and early Eocene epochs.

Gavialoidea

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 the false gharial Tomistoma schlegelii are alive today, with Hanyusuchus having become extinct in the last few centuries. Extinct South American gavialoids likely dispersed in the mid Tertiary from Africa and Asia. Fossil remains of the Puerto Rican gavialoid Aktiogavialis puertorisensis were discovered in a cave located in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico and dated to the Oligocene.

Gavialis

Gavialis is a genus of crocodylians that includes the living gharial Gavialis gangeticus and one known extinct species, Gavialis bengawanicus. G. gangeticus comes from the Indian Subcontinent, while G. bengawanicus is known from Java. 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.