Harman Patil (Editor)

Brevirostres

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Kingdom
  
Animalia

Higher classification
  
Crocodiles

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Crocodiles

Brevirostres httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Clade
  
Brevirostres von Zittel, 1890

Similar
  
Crocodiles, Alligatoroidea, Gavialoidea, Reptile, Borealosuchus

Brevirostres is a clade of crocodylians that includes alligatoroids and crocodyloids. Brevirostres are crocodylians with short snouts, and are distinguished from the long, slender-snouted gharials. It is defined phylogenetically as the last common ancestor of Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator) and Crocodylus niloticus (the Nile crocodile) and all of its descendants. Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic relations of Brevirostres from Brochu (1997):


Brevirostres was first named by Karl Alfred von Zittel in 1890. Von Zittel considered Gavialis, the gharial, to be closely related to Tomistoma, the false gharial, and excluded them from the group. Tomistoma, as its name implies, is traditionally not considered closely related to Gavialis, but instead classified as a crocodylid. Under this classification, all members of Brevirostres are brevirostrine, or short-snouted. Recent molecular analyses support von Zittel's classification in placing Tomistoma as a close relative of Gavialis. If this classification is accepted, Brevirostres can be considered a junior synonym of Crocodylia. If Brevirostres is defined as the last common ancestor of all brevirostrines -including Tomistoma- and all of its descendants, the common ancestor's descendants would include Gharial, and thus all crocodylians.

References

Brevirostres Wikipedia