''Rhamphosuchus'' ("Beak crocodile") is an extinct genus of

gavialid Gavialidae is a family of large semiaquatic crocodilians with elongated, narrow snouts. Gavialidae consists of two living species, the gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus'') and the false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), both occurring in Asia. Man ...

crocodylia Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period (Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

ns. It lived during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Siwalik Hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as well as the Sindh region of

. Its

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is ''Rhamphosuchus crassidens'', which is only known from incomplete sets of fossils, mostly teeth and skulls. Four species traditionally placed in the genus '' Gavialis'' may be included as well.

Overview

Traditionally, many palaeontologists estimated that it was one of the largest, if not the largest crocodylian that ever lived, reaching an estimated length of . However, a more recent study suggests that the animal may have been 8–11 m (26 to 36 ft) in length, and therefore is not the largest known crocodylian. Another crocodylian, ''

Purussaurus ''Purussaurus'' is an extinct genus of giant caiman that lived in South America during the Miocene epoch, from the Friasian to the Huayquerian in the SALMA classification. It is known from skull material found in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazo ...

'', from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, is known from an equally incomplete fossil set. It is estimated to have been similar in length to the initial estimates at approximately 12 m (about 40ft). However, this would mean that it would have been somewhat larger in size if the more recent size estimates for ''Rhamphosuchus'' are correct. If the most recent estimate is correct, then several other extinct crocodylians also surpassed ''Rhamphosuchus'' in length, such as the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

alligatoroid Alligatoroidea is one of three superfamilies of crocodylians, the other two being Crocodyloidea and Gavialoidea. Alligatoroidea evolved in the Late Cretaceous period, and consists of the alligators and caimans, as well as extinct members mor ...

Deinosuchus ''Deinosuchus'' () is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian, related to modern alligators and caimans, that lived 82 to 73 million years ago (Ma), during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and i ...

'', the Early Cretaceous pholidosaurid ''

Sarcosuchus ''Sarcosuchus'' (; ) is an extinct genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of living crocodilians that lived during the Early Cretaceous, from the late Hauterivian to the early Albian, 133 to 112 million years ago of what is now Africa and ...

'', the

'' Gryposuchus'' and the strange planktivorous ''

Mourasuchus ''Mourasuchus'' is an extinct genus of giant, aberrant caiman from the Miocene of South America. Its skull has been described as duck-like, being broad, flat, and very elongate, superficially resembling '' Stomatosuchus'' from the Late Cretaceo ...

'' (a contemporary of ''Purussaurus''), at 12 m, 9.5 m, 10.15 m, and 12 m, respectively. ''Rhamphosuchus'' was previously regarded as a close relative of the modern false gharial within the subfamily

Tomistominae Tomistominae is a subfamily of crocodylians that includes one living species, the false gharial. Many more extinct species are known, extending the range of the subfamily back to the Eocene epoch. In contrast to the false gharial, which is a fres ...

. However, Tomistominae in its traditional sense is now known to be paraphyletic, and a 2022 study by Iijima and colleagues recovered ''Rhamphosuchus'' as a derived member of the subfamily Gavialinae instead. ''Rhamphosuchus'' probably had a more generalized predatory diet than the

piscivory A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolut ...

of other "tomistomines".

References

Gavialidae Pliocene crocodylomorphs Pliocene reptiles of Asia Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Fossil taxa described in 1840 {{paleo-archosaur-stub

Overview

See also

References