Gavialosuchus is an
extinct tomistomine from the late
Oligocene and
Miocene of eastern
North America and early Miocene of
Europe. Three
species have been named: the
type species G. eggenburgensis from the early Miocene of
Austria;
G. americanus, from the late
Miocene to early
Pliocene of
Florida; and
G. carolinensis, from the late
Oligocene of
South Carolina. Another species, as yet unnamed, may be present in the Miocene of
Georgia. Unlike its modern fresh water relatives,
Gavialosuchus was an
estuarine and coastal water crocodilian, living in shallow marine waters alongside
Metaxytherium,
Pomatodelphis, and
Hemipristis serra. It was long-snouted and large:
G. carolinensis was at least 5.37 meters long (17.3 ft), and one specimen of
G. americanus is estimated at long based on a -long skull. As is the case with many fossil
taxa, what exactly constitutes
Gavialosuchus is not a settled question. Myrick Jr. (2001) proposed synonymizing
G. americanus with
Thecachampsa antiqua. Piras
et al. (2007) advocated transferring both
G. americanus and
G. carolinensis to
Thecachampsa as distinct species of the latter genus. Jouve
et al. (2008) retained
G. americanus in
Gavialosuchus and found it to be the
sister group of
G. eggenburgensis (
G. carolinensis was not discussed). However, Jouve
et al. (2008) didn't test
Thecachampsa antiqua in their phylogenetic analysis. Shan
et al. (2009) found that
G. americanus and
G. eggenburgensis are not sister taxa. However, they didn't include
T. antiqua and
G. carolinensis in their analysis. Christopher A. Brochu and Glenn W. Storrs (2012) tested all four species, along with other
crocodyloids, and found relatively strong support for Piras
et al. (2007) suggestion.
