Open AccessNew remains of a gavialoid crocodilian from the late Oligocene−early Miocene of the Pirabas Formation, Brazil
Author(s) -
MORAESSANTOS HELOISA,
VILLANUEVA JEAN BOCQUENTIN,
TOLEDO PETER MANN
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00710.x
Subject(s) - biology , paleontology , late miocene , zoology , evolutionary biology , structural basin
New specimens of gavialoids collected from the Pirabas Formation, Brazil, provide additional information about the evolutionary evolution of Gavialoidea during the late Oligocene−early Miocene. We describe a specimen that has a more gracile symphyseal mandible than any other South American gavialoid. This fossil represents an unusually diverse radiation of gavialoids that were probably ecologically differentiated from each other by size and dietary specialization. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2011, 163 , S132–S139.