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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. Remains attributed to Gavialis have also been found on Sulawesi and Woodlark Island east of the Wallace Line, suggesting a prehistoric lineage of Gavialis was able to traverse marine environments and reach places possibly as far as western Oceania. The genus Gavialis was reevaluated in 2018 based on specimens in the Natural History Museum, London that were collected in the Sivalik Hills. 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 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.

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Related concepts (23)

Gavialis

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.

False gharial

The false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), also known by the names Malayan gharial, Sunda gharial and tomistoma is a freshwater crocodilian of the family Gavialidae native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as the global population is estimated at around 2,500 to 10,000 mature individuals. The specific name schlegelii honors Hermann Schlegel. The scientific name Crocodilus (Gavialis) schlegelii was proposed by Salomon Müller in 1838 who described a specimen collected in Borneo.