17-445: 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. Many extinct members are known from a broader range, including the recently extinct Hanyusuchus . Gavialids are generally regarded as lacking
34-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
51-1064: Is a more detailed cladogram that shows the proposed phylogeny of Gavialidae including extinct members: Crocodyloidea † Maroccosuchus zennaroi † Megadontosuchus arduini † Dollosuchoides densmorei † Xaymacachampsa kugleri † Kentisuchus astrei † Kentisuchus spenceri † Tomistoma cairense † Tomistoma coppensi † Maomingosuchus petrolica Tomistoma schlegelii , false gharial † Tomistoma lusitanicum † Gavialosuchus eggenburgensis † Melitosaurus champsoides † Tomistoma calaritanum † Tomistoma gaudense † Thecachampsa carolinensis † Thecachampsa antiqua † Paratomistoma courti † Penghusuchus pani † Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis † Hanyusuchus sinensis † Eosuchus lerichei † Eosuchus minor † Ocepesuchus eoafricanus † Eothoracosaurus mississippiensis Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )
68-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
85-401: Is currently recognized as a crown group , meaning that it only includes the last common ancestor of all extant (living) gavialids (the gharial and false gharial ) and their descendants (living or extinct ). Traditionally, crocodiles and alligators were considered more closely related and grouped together in the clade Brevirostres , to the exclusion of the gharials. This classification
102-480: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
119-484: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Crocodylus See text Crocodylus is a genus of true crocodiles in
136-420: The false gharial ( Tomistoma ) (and by inference other related extinct forms) traditionally viewed as belonging to the crocodylian subfamily Tomistominae actually belong to Gavialoidea (and Gavialidae). As its name suggests, the false gharial was once thought to be only distantly related to the gharial despite its similar appearance. The false gharial and other tomistomines were traditionally classified within
153-543: The Americas, although an Australia/Asia origin has also been considered. Phylogenetic evidence supports Crocodylus diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct Voay of Madagascar , around 25 million years ago, near the Oligocene / Miocene boundary. A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological , molecular ( DNA sequencing ), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data established
170-1068: The extinct Voay . The tip dating analysis resolved the extinct Thoracosaurus and similar extinct close relatives ("thoracosaurs") as outside of Gavialoidea due to the large time difference. They concluded that the only possible explanation for the morphological data placing thoracosaurs within the gharial lineage was a significant amount of homoplastic convergence between thoracosaurs and Gavialis . The below cladogram from latest study shows Gavialidae's placement within Crocodylia : extinct basal Alligatoroids † Caiman [REDACTED] Melanosuchus [REDACTED] Paleosuchus [REDACTED] Alligator [REDACTED] "Crocodylus" megarhinus † Crocodylus [REDACTED] Mecistops [REDACTED] Osteolaemus [REDACTED] Kentisuchus † Maroccosuchus † Paratomistoma † Dollosuchoides † Tomistoma cairense † Gavialis [REDACTED] Tomistoma [REDACTED] Here
187-602: The family Crocodylidae . The generic name, Crocodylus , was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. Crocodylus contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct species. There are additional extinct species attributed to the genus Crocodylus that studies have shown no longer belong, although they have not yet been reassigned to new genera . The 13–14 living species are: Crocodylus also includes five extinct species : Crocodylus likely originated in Africa and radiated outwards towards Southeast Asia and
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#1732859028596204-530: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
221-450: The jaw strength to capture the large mammalian prey favoured by crocodiles and alligators of similar size so their thin snout is best used to catch fish, however the false gharial has been found to have a generalist diet with mature adults preying upon larger vertebrates, such as ungulates . The family Gavialidae was proposed by Arthur Adams in 1854 for reptiles with a very long and slender muzzle, webbed feet and nearly equal teeth. It
238-567: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
255-470: The superfamily Crocodyloidea as close relatives of crocodiles , based solely on morphological evidence. A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological , molecular ( DNA sequencing ), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data established the inter-relationships within Crocodilia , which was expanded upon in 2021 by Hekkala et al. using paleogenomics by extracting DNA from
272-541: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
289-441: Was based on morphological studies primarily focused on analyzing skeletal traits of living and extinct fossil species. However, recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing have rejected Brevirostres upon finding the crocodiles and gavialids to be more closely related than the alligators. The new clade Longirostres was named by Harshman et al. in 2003. In addition, these recent molecular DNA studies consistently indicate that
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