Melitosaurus

Wikipedia

Melitosaurus
Temporal range: Miocene, 23.03–20.43 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauria
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Gavialidae
Subfamily: Tomistominae
Genus: Melitosaurus
Owen, 1850
Species
  • Melitosaurus champsoides Owen, 1850 (type)

Melitosaurus is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodylian discovered in Gozo, Malta in Early Miocene Aquitanian stage marine limestone rock in 1850.[1] It is related to the extant (living) False gharial and a member of the same subfamily Tomistominae, as shown in the cladogram below:[2]

Crocodyloidea

Gavialoidea
Gavialidae

Tomistoma cairense

Tomistoma coppensi

Maomingosuchus petrolica

Tomistominae
Gavialinae

References

  1. "Melitosaurus champsoides". Fossilworks. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  2. Iijima M, Qiao Y, Lin W, Peng Y, Yoneda M, Liu J (2022). "An intermediate crocodylian linking two extant gharials from the Bronze Age of China and its human-induced extinction". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 289 (1970) 20220085. doi:10.1098/rspb.2022.0085. PMC 8905159. PMID 35259993.