''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family

Crocodylidae Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant mem ...

Taxonomy

The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

(living) species and 5

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species. There are additional extinct species attributed to the genus ''Crocodylus'' that studies have shown no longer belong, although they have not yet been reassigned to new

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

Extant species

The 13–14 living species are:

Fossils

''Crocodylus'' also includes five

species: * † ''

Crocodylus anthropophagus ''Crocodylus anthropophagus'' is an extinct species of crocodile from the Pleistocene of Tanzania. It lived 1.84 million years ago. It was a large-sized predator reaching a length of . Etymology ''Crocodylus anthropophagus'' was first named by ...

'' is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Tanzania. * † '' Crocodylus checchiai'' is an extinct crocodile from Late Miocene of Kenya. * † ''

Crocodylus falconensis ''Crocodylus falconensis'' is an extinct species of crocodile known from the early Pliocene of the lower part of the Vergel Member of the San Gregorio Formation of Venezuela. ''C. falconensis'' was named in 2013 after Falcón State and is though ...

'' is an extinct crocodile from Early Pliocene of Venezuela. * † '' Crocodylus palaeindicus'' is an extinct crocodile the Miocene to the Pleistocene of southern Asia. * † '' Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni'' is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya.

Evolution

''Crocodylus'' likely originated in Africa and radiated outwards towards Southeast Asia and the Americas, although an Australia/Asia origin has also been considered. Phylogenetic evidence supports ''Crocodylus'' diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct '' Voay'' of Madagascar, around 25 million years ago, near the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

/ Miocene boundary.

Phylogeny

A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data established the inter-relationships within

. In 2021, Hekkala ''et al.'' were able to use paleogenomics, extracting DNA from the extinct '' Voay'', to better establish the relationships within Crocodylidae, including the subfamilies

Crocodylinae Crocodylinae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae, and is the sister taxon to Osteolaeminae ( dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles). Taxonomy Crocodylinae was cladistically defined by Christopher Brochu in ...

and

Osteolaeminae Osteolaeminae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae containing the dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae. Taxonomy Osteolaeminae was named by Christopher Brochu in ...

. The below cladogram shows the results of the latest study:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q309495 Crocodylidae Extant Miocene first appearances Reptile genera Taxa named by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti