An international scientific study has revealed a new species of Gavilian crocodile, after re-examining a historic Egyptian fossil found in the Mokattam Mountain in 1927, which dates back about 45 million years.
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Dr. Sherif Khater, President of Mansoura University, announced the participation of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center, led by Dr. Hesham Sallam, in the study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, congratulating the research team on this achievement, which reflects the importance of specialized scientific research and international cooperation.
Dr. Hisham Sallam, founder of the center and head of the Egyptian team, explained that re-examining the fossil using modern techniques revealed that it represents a new genus called "Herogaviales," while the species known since 1927 as "Kairensis" was reclassified to become "Herogaviales kairensis."
The study was conducted in collaboration with an international team, based on samples currently preserved in the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History in Germany, and included examining the internal structure of the skull and digitally reconstructing it, along with anatomical comparisons and analysis of evolutionary relationships.
For decades, the fossil was known as "Tomstoma caerensi" because of its long snout skull, before recent evolutionary studies revealed that it was not closely related to the false gharial, prompting researchers to reassess its taxonomic and evolutionary position.
The animal’s new name has a striking Egyptian connotation, as the fossil was found in the Mokattam geological formation, which is associated with the rocks of the area where the Sphinx is located, and the front of the skull’s snout is missing, in a striking resemblance to the missing nose of the statue.
The researchers drew inspiration for the first part of the name "Herogavialis" from "Heru" or Horus, associated with the Sphinx known in ancient Egypt as "Hor-em-Akhet," while "gavialis" refers to its evolutionary connection to the modern Indian gharial, and "kairensis" refers to Cairo.
The snout was about 64% of the length of the skull, while analyses showed that Hierogaviales represents an early branch of the Gavialiaceae, and did not directly cluster with the African and Mediterranean species included in the study.
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