Crocodylinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

of true crocodiles within the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

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 ...

, and is the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to Osteolaeminae ( dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles).

Taxonomy

Crocodylinae was

cladistically Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived cha ...

defined by Christopher Brochu in 1999 as ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (the

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, ...

) and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to ''Osteolaemus tetraspis'' (the

Dwarf crocodile The dwarf crocodile (''Osteolaemus tetraspis''), also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile (a name more often used for the Asian mugger crocodile) or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest ext ...

). This is a stem-based definition, and is the

to Osteolaeminae. Crocodylinae contains the

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 extin ...

genus 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 no ...

'' Crocodylus''. It is disputed as to whether is also includes '' Mecistops'' (slender-snouted crocodiles), or the

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 ...

genus Voay.

Phylogeny

Some morphological studies have recovered '' Mecistops'' as a basal member of Crocodylinae, more closely related to '' Crocodylus'' than to ''

Osteolaemus ''Osteolaemus'' is a genus of crocodiles. They are small, secretive crocodiles that occur in wetlands of West and Middle Africa. They are commonly known as the African dwarf crocodiles. Unlike other crocodiles, ''Osteolaemus'' are strictly noctur ...

'' and the other members of Osteolaeminae, as shown in the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

below. The below

is based on a 2021 study using paleogenomics that extracted DNA from the extinct '' Voay'', recovering it as a member of Crocodylinae.

Species list

Crocodylinae contains 13-14

species and 6

species. *Subfamily Crocodylinae **Genus '' Crocodylus'' ***''Crocodylus acutus'',

American crocodile The American crocodile (''Crocodylus acutus'') is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coas ...

***''Crocodylus halli'', Hall's New Guinea crocodile ***''Crocodylus intermedius'', Orinoco crocodile ***''Crocodylus johnstoni'',

Freshwater crocodile The freshwater crocodile (''Crocodylus johnstoni''), also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile or the freshie, is a species of crocodile endemic to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike their much larger Austr ...

, or Johnstone's crocodile ***''Crocodylus mindorensis'', Philippine crocodile ***''Crocodylus moreletii'', Morelet's crocodile or Mexican crocodile ***''Crocodylus niloticus'',

***''Crocodylus novaeguineae'', New Guinea crocodile ***''Crocodylus palustris'', mugger, marsh or Indian crocodile ***''Crocodylus porosus'',

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been liste ...

or Estuarine crocodile ****''Crocodylus raninus'', Borneo crocodile, is currently considered to be a synonym of ''Crocodylus porosus''; whether or not it is a distinct species remains unclear. ***''Crocodylus rhombifer'', Cuban crocodile ***''Crocodylus siamensis'', Siamese crocodile ***''Crocodylus suchus'',

West African crocodile The West African crocodile, desert crocodile, or sacred crocodile (''Crocodylus suchus'') is a species of crocodile related to – and often confused with – the larger and more aggressive Nile crocodile (''C. niloticus''). Taxonomy Compared ...

, desert or sacred crocodile ***'' Crocodylus anthropophagus'' ***'' Crocodylus checchiai'' ***'' Crocodylus falconensis'' ***'' Crocodylus palaeindicus'' ***'' Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni'' ** Genus '' Voay'' ***'' Voay robustus'' (formerly ''Crocodylus robustus'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107395048 Crocodylidae Tetrapod subfamilies Taxa named by Georges Cuvier