New remains of a gavialoid crocodilian from the late Oligocene−early Miocene of the Pirabas Formation, Brazil

Abstract

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.