Data from: Exceptional fossils from Peru and an integrative phylogeny reconcile the evolutionary timing and mode of Gavialis and its kin
Data files
Jul 17, 2025 version files 13.67 MB
-
Electronic_Supplementary_Material__FV.docx
6.82 MB
-
README.md
1.36 KB
-
Supplementary_files.zip
6.84 MB
Jul 17, 2025 version files 13.67 MB
-
Electronic_Supplementary_Material__FV.docx
6.82 MB
-
README.md
1.36 KB
-
Supplementary_files.zip
6.84 MB
Abstract
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.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k6djh9wjz
Description of the data and file structure
This is a zipped file containing:
- (SF1) The morphological matrix in nexus format.
- (SF2) The molecular matrix in nexus format.
- (SF3) The executable BEAST file. The BEAST file was written for BEAST v.2.7.6.
- (SF4) The final annotated tree.
- (SF5) The R code to plot the tree using the strap package.
- (SF6) The final .log file (used in the R code).
Additionally, the Electronic_Supplementary_Material__FV.docx
Files and variables
File: Supplementary_files.zip
Description: Here are available the morphological and data matrices, the executable BEAST file used to conduct the analyses, the final phylogenetic tree with its respective log file, as well as the code used to plot the tree.
File: Electronic_Supplementary_Material_ FV.docx
Description: This is the Electronic Supplementary material. Here is information about the methods and additional morphological information
Code/software
We used BEAST v.2.7.6 software to conduct the phylogenetic analyses.
We visualized the final data using the strap package in R.2023.01. The R code is available in SF5.