Data from: Exceptional fossils from Peru and an integrative phylogeny reconcile the evolutionary timing and mode of Gavialis and its kin

The acquisition of a long and slender snout (longirostry) resulted in
extreme similar morphology across crocodylians and, therefore, raised a
conflict between morphological and molecular phylogenetic hypotheses
involving the longirostrine living gharials, Gavialis gangeticus and
Tomistoma schlegelii. This discrepancy is not only topological but also
concerns divergence time estimates for the crown clade Gavialidae,
especially due to the inclusion of another longirostrine forms, ancient
‘thoracosaurs’—which introduces significant chronostratigraphic
inconsistencies. To contribute to reconcile these contrasting lines of
evidence, exceptionally preserved fossils of a new Miocene gavialid from
Peru were included in a total-evidence Bayesian analysis. Our analysis
integrates morphological, molecular, and chronostratigraphic data and
incorporates most taxa of the largest adaptive radiation of gavialids,
which occurred in the Cenozoic of South American and Caribbean (SAC). Our
results demonstrate that including SAC taxa substantially increase
divergence estimates for Gavialidae, surpassing those inferred from
molecular data alone. The exceptional preservation of the new Peruvian
fossils enabled character re-evaluation for gavialids and ‘thoracosaurs,’
the latter recovered even outside Crocodylia, and suggesting that
longirostry resulted from independent evolution. These findings underscore
the crucial role of SAC gavialids for understanding the morphological
trajectory and phylogenetics of longirostrine crocodylians.