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Gryposuchus
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Gryposuchus

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Gryposuchus (meaning "hooked crocodile") is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodilian. Fossils have been found from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and the Peruvian Amazon. The genus existed during the Miocene epoch (Colhuehuapian to Huayquerian). One recently described species, G. croizati, grew to an estimated length of . Gryposuchus is the type genus of the subfamily Gryposuchinae, although a 2018 study indicates that Gryposuchinae and Gryposuchus might be paraphyletic and rather an evolutionary grade towards the gharial.

Wikidata facts

Mass
1745
Image
Gryposuchus colombianus skull.jpg
Length
10.15
Show 4 more facts
taxon name
Gryposuchus
Commons category
Gryposuchus
start time
15970000-0
end time
12000-00-0
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5 sections
Contents
  • Species
  • Phylogeny
  • Paleoecology
  • References
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Gryposuchus (meaning "hooked crocodile") is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodilian. Fossils have been found from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and the Peruvian Amazon. The genus existed during the Miocene epoch (Colhuehuapian to Huayquerian). One recently described species, G. croizati, grew to an estimated length of . Gryposuchus is the type genus of the subfamily Gryposuchinae, although a 2018 study indicates that Gryposuchinae and Gryposuchus might be paraphyletic and rather an evolutionary grade towards the gharial.

== Species == The type species of Gryposuchus is G. jessei, named based on a well-preserved rostrum collected along the Pauini River of Brazil in 1912. The specimen was probably destroyed during World War II by the 1943 bombing of Hamburg. Another specimen named UFAC 1272, consisting of a premaxilla and maxilla, was discovered in the nearby Sena Madureia locality of the late Miocene Solimões Formation, in and referred to the species in 1997. Gryposuchus jessei is also referred to from the Urumaco Formation of northwestern Venezuela. A second species, G. neogaeus, was referred to the genus in 1982; specimens from this species were first described from the late Miocene Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina in 1885, although it was referred to Rhamphostomopsis at the time.

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