Piscogavialis

Piscogavialis is an extinct monospecific genus of gryposuchine gavialid crocodylian. The only species yet known is P. jugaliperforatus. Fossils of Piscogavialis have been found from the Mio-Pliocene Pisco Formation of the Sacaco Basin in southern Peru in 1998, where it coexisted with the much smaller gavialid Sacacosuchus. Piscogavialis is known only from a single specimen, but it represents some of the best preserved gavialid material known from South America. The skull is preserved in three dimensions and is nearly complete. A mandible and some postcranial material have also been found in association with the skull. Several important features of the occipital region of the skull support a referral to the family Gavialidae, which also includes the extant gharial and false gharial. The strata from which remains of Piscogavialis have been found suggest that it lived in a coastal environment. Another extinct marine gavialid, Sacacosuchus, was described in 2022 and discovered in the same formation. Sacacosuchus was smaller, estimated to be up to long, whereas Piscogavialis was nearly double the size. During the Miocene, what is now the Pisco Basin in Peru was largely covered by a shallow marine transgression that connected to the open ocean. The environment was marked by shallow waters, protected bays with rocky shores and small islands. The south-east Pacific coast was inhabited by at least two species of crocodilians, Piscogavialis and Sacacosuchus, throughout most of this time period. The remains of both species were found alongside other animals typical for the marine environments of this region including various cetaceans, seals, seabirds, marine sloths and sharks. As the Peruvian sediments yielded bones of both adults and juvenile specimens, it is assumed that Sacacosuchus spent its entire life in saltwater. Although Piscogavialis was notably larger, it was also likely more specialized, feeding primarily on fast fish. Sacacosuchus, meanwhile, in spite of being only half the length of its contemporary relative, was adapted to a more generalist diet.

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Related concepts (19)

Gavialosuchus

Gavialosuchus is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodylian from the early Miocene of Europe. Currently only one species is recognized, as a few other species of Gavialosuchus have since been reclassified to other genera. The type species, G. eggenburgensis, is known from the early Miocene of Austria. Two other species - G. americanus and G. carolinensis - have since been reclassified to other genera. Myrick Jr. (2001) proposed synonymizing Gavialosuchus americanus with Thecachampsa antiqua. Piras et al.

Tomistoma

Tomistoma is a genus of gavialid crocodilians. They are noted for their long narrow snouts used to catch fish, similar to the gharial. Tomistoma contains one extant (living) member, the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), as well as potentially several extinct species: T. cairense, T. lusitanicum T. coppensi, and T. dowsoni. However, these species may need to be reclassified to different genera as studies have shown them to be paraphyletic, for example: previously assigned species T.

Penghusuchus

Penghusuchus is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodylian. It is known from a skeleton found in Middle to Upper Miocene rocks of Penghu Island, off Taiwan. The taxon was described in 2009 by Shan and colleagues; the type species is P. pani. It may be related to two other fossil Asian gavialids: Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis of Japan and Hanyusuchus sinensis of South China. It was a medium-sized gavialid with an estimated total length of . On 25 March 2006, on the coast of Neian, Shiyu, Penghu Islands, an excavator driver Mr.