Summary
Gavialis bengawanicus is an extinct species of crocodilian that is related to the modern Indian gharial.[1] Fossils have been found in Thailand and Indonesia. The type locality is at Trinil.[2]
| Gavialis bengawanicus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauromorpha |
| Clade: | Archosauriformes |
| Order: | Crocodilia |
| Family: | Gavialidae |
| Genus: | Gavialis |
| Species: | †G. bengawanicus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Gavialis bengawanicus Dubois, 1908
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The presence of this species in Thailand may provide an explanation for the distribution of fossil gharials that appears disjunct, covering Pakistan and Java but not the connecting areas. The fossils suggest that gharials may have dispersed from Indo-Pakistan to Indonesia through Thailand without having to resort to marine routes.[3]
Below is a cladogram that shows the proposed phylogeny within Gavialidae, including extinct members, and how Gavialis bengawanicus is most closely related to the living gharial:[4]
| Gavialidae |
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References edit
- ^ Delfino, M. & De Vos, J. (2010). "A revision of the Dubois crocodylians, Gavialis bengawanicus and Crocodylus ossifragus, from the Pleistocene Homo erectus beds of Java". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (2): 427–441. doi:10.1080/02724631003617910. S2CID 86396515.
- ^ "Gavialis bengawanicus". Paleo-Database.
- ^ Martin, J. E.; Buffetaut, E.; Naksri, W.; Lauprasert, K. & Claude, J. (2012). "Gavialis from the Pleistocene of Thailand and its relevance for drainage connections from India to Java". PLOS ONE. 7 (9): e44541. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044541. PMC 3445548. PMID 23028557.
- ^ Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071. PMC 6030529. PMID 30051855.