Herugavialis cairensis — extinct gavial crocodile from northeastern Egypt

An extinct gavial crocodile from the Mokattam Formation in northeastern Egypt, known from a nearly complete skull collected in the 1920s from 45-million-year-old shallow-marine limestone, the same rock carved into the Great Sphinx of Giza. First described in 1927 as Tomistoma, CT scanning showed raised rims around the eye sockets absent in Tomistoma, so it was re-examined as a new species, named for the falcon-headed god Heru. Unlike living gavials, it likely lived in saltwater. News article: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/oct/analysis-how-sphinx-helping-answer-riddle-about-extinct-crocodiles [https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/oct/analysis-how-sphinx-helping-answer-riddle-about-extinct-crocodiles]