Paratomistoma

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Paratomistoma

| fossil_range = Middle Eocene, {{fossilrange|41.3|38|ref={{cite journal |last1=Rio |first1=Jonathan P. |last2=Mannion |first2=Philip D. |date=6 September 2021 |title=Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem |journal=PeerJ |volume=9 |pages=e12094 |doi=10.7717/peerj.12094 |pmid=34567843 |pmc=8428266 |doi-access=free}}}}

| authority = Brochu & Gingerich, 2000

| type_species = {{extinct}}Paratomistoma courti

| type_species_authority = Brochu & Gingerich, 2000

}}

Paratomistoma (meaning "next to or near Tomistoma") is an extinct monospecific genus of gavialoid crocodylian. It is based on the holotype specimen CGM 42188, a partial posterior skull and lower jaw discovered at Wadi Hitan, Egypt, in Middle Eocene-age rocks of the Gehannam Formation. The skull is unfused but considered morphologically mature. Paratomistoma was named in 2000 by Christopher Brochu and Philip Gingerich; the type species is P. courti in honor of Nicholas Court, who found CGM 42188. They performed a phylogenetic analysis and found Paratomistoma to be a derived member of Tomistominae, related to the false gharial. It may have been a marine or coastal crocodilian.{{cite journal |last=Brochu |first=Christopher A. |author2=Gingerich, Philip D. |year=2000 |title=New tomistomine crocodylian from the Middle Eocene (Bartonian) of Wadi Hitan, Fayum Province, Egypt |journal=Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology |volume=30 |issue=10 |pages=251–268 |url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48660/2/ID527.pdf }}

Below is a cladogram based morphological studies comparing skeletal features that shows Paratomistoma as a member of Tomistominae:{{Cite journal|last1=Iijima|first1=Masaya|last2=Momohara|first2=Arata|last3=Kobayashi|first3=Yoshitsugu|last4=Hayashi|first4=Shoji|last5=Ikeda|first5=Tadahiro|last6=Taruno|first6=Hiroyuki|last7=Watanabe|first7=Katsunori|last8=Tanimoto|first8=Masahiro|last9=Furui|first9=Sora|date=2018-05-01|title=Toyotamaphimeia cf. machikanensis (Crocodylia, Tomistominae) from the Middle Pleistocene of Osaka, Japan, and crocodylian survivorship through the Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic oscillations|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217311124|journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology|language=en|volume=496|pages=346–360|doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.002|bibcode=2018PPP...496..346I|issn=0031-0182}}

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|label1=Crocodylidae

|1={{clade

|1=Crocodylinae

|label2=Tomistominae

|2={{clade

|1=Xaymacachampsa{{extinct}}

|2=Megadontosuchus{{extinct}}

|3=Kentisuchus{{extinct}}

|4=Maroccosuchus{{extinct}}

|5={{clade

|1=Dollosuchoides{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Thecachampsa{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1=Penghusuchus{{extinct}}

|2=Toyotamaphimeia{{extinct}} }} }}

|2={{clade

|1=Tomistoma cairense{{extinct}}

|2={{clade

|1=Maomingosuchus{{extinct}}

|2=Tomistoma schlegelii False gharial

|3={{clade

|1=Gavialosuchus{{extinct}}

|2=Tomistoma lusitanicum{{extinct}} }}

|4={{clade

|1=Paratomistoma{{extinct}}

|2=Tomistoma coppensi{{extinct}} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

Based on morphological studies of extinct taxa, the tomistomines were long thought to be classified as crocodiles and not closely related to gavialoids.{{cite journal |last=Brochu |first=C.A. |author2=Gingerich, P.D. |year=2000 |title=New tomistomine crocodylian from the Middle Eocene (Bartonian) of Wadi Hitan, Fayum Province, Egypt |journal=University of Michigan Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology |volume=30 |issue=10 |pages=251–268}} However, recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing have consistently indicated that the false gharial (Tomistoma) (and by inference other related extinct forms in Tomistominae) actually belong to Gavialoidea (and Gavialidae).{{cite journal |pmid=12775527 |year=2003 |last1=Harshman |first1=J. |title=True and false gharials: A nuclear gene phylogeny of crocodylia |journal=Systematic Biology |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=386–402 |last2=Huddleston |first2=C. J. |last3=Bollback |first3=J. P. |last4=Parsons |first4=T. J. |last5=Braun |first5=M. J. |doi=10.1080/10635150309323 |url=http://si-pddr.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6275/2003C_Harshman_et_al.pdf |doi-access=free |access-date=2021-06-30 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://si-pddr.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6275/2003C_Harshman_et_al.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite journal |last=Gatesy |first=Jorge |author2=Amato, G. |author3=Norell, M. |author4=DeSalle, R. |author5= Hayashi, C. |year=2003 |title=Combined support for wholesale taxic atavism in gavialine crocodylians |journal=Systematic Biology |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=403–422 |doi= 10.1080/10635150309329|pmid=12775528 |url=http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~mmaduro/seminarpdf/GatesyetalSystBiol2003.pdf|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Willis | first1 = R. E. | last2 = McAliley | first2 = L. R. | last3 = Neeley | first3 = E. D. | last4 = Densmore Ld | first4 = L. D. | title = Evidence for placing the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) into the family Gavialidae: Inferences from nuclear gene sequences | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.02.005 | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 43 | issue = 3 | pages = 787–794 | date = June 2007 | pmid = 17433721}}{{cite journal|last1=Gatesy |first1=J. |last2=Amato |first2=G. |year=2008 |title=The rapid accumulation of consistent molecular support for intergeneric crocodylian relationships |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=1232–1237 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.02.009|pmid=18372192}}{{cite journal| author=Erickson, G. M.| author2=Gignac, P. M.| author3=Steppan, S. J.| author4=Lappin, A. K.| author5=Vliet, K. A.| author6=Brueggen, J. A.| author7=Inouye, B. D.| author8=Kledzik, D.| author9=Webb, G. J. W. | year=2012 | title=Insights into the ecology and evolutionary success of crocodilians revealed through bite-force and tooth-pressure experimentation | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=7 |issue=3 |page=e31781 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0031781|editor1-last=Claessens|editor1-first=Leon|bibcode = 2012PLoSO...731781E | pmid=22431965 | pmc=3303775| doi-access=free}}{{cite journal | author=Michael S. Y. Lee |author2=Adam M. Yates |date=27 June 2018 |title=Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=285 |issue=1881 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.1071 |pmid=30051855 |pmc=6030529 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Hekkala |first1=E. |last2=Gatesy |first2=J. |last3=Narechania |first3=A. |last4=Meredith |first4=R. |last5=Russello |first5=M. |last6=Aardema |first6=M. L. |last7=Jensen |first7=E. |last8=Montanari |first8=S. |last9=Brochu |first9=C. |last10=Norell |first10=M. |last11=Amato |first11=G. |date=2021-04-27 |title=Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus |journal=Communications Biology |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=505 |doi=10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0 |pmid=33907305 |pmc=8079395 |issn=2399-3642 |doi-access=free}}

Below is a cladogram from a 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data that shows Paratomistoma as an early-diverging gavialoid, more basal than the last common ancestor to both the gharial and the false gharial: