Crocodylus

Crocodylus is a genus in the family Crocodylidae. The scientific name was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768.[1]

Crocodylus Temporal range: Late Miocene - Recent
Mugger crocodile (C. palustris)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Crocodilia
Family:	Crocodylidae
Subfamily:	Crocodylinae
Genus:	Crocodylus Laurenti, 1768
Species
See text
Worldwide distribution of Crocodylus

Taxonomy

Extant species

The 13-14 living species are:

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Crocodylus acutus	American crocodile	Southern Florida and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of southern Mexico to South America as far south as Peru and Venezuela, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Grand Cayman.
	Crocodylus halli[2]	Hall's crocodile	southern New Guinea
	Crocodylus intermedius	Orinoco crocodile	Colombia and Venezuela
	Crocodylus johnsoni	Freshwater crocodile	Northern regions of Australia
	Crocodylus mindorensis	Philippine crocodile	Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park within the Luzon rainforest, San Mariano, Isabela, Dalupiri island in the Babuyan Islands, Abra (province) in Luzon and the Ligawasan Marsh, Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, Pulangi River in Bukidnon, and possibly in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Mindanao
	Crocodylus moreletii	Morelet's crocodile or Mexican crocodile	Mexico, Belize and Guatemala
	Crocodylus niloticus	Nile crocodile or African crocodile, (the subspecies found in Madagascar, C. n. madagascariensis, is sometimes called the black crocodile)	Israel and Syria (historically), Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Angola, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Sudan, South Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon
	Crocodylus novaeguineae	New Guinea crocodile	northern New Guinea
	Crocodylus palustris	Mugger crocodile, marsh crocodile, or Indian crocodile	southern Iran, southern Pakistan, southern Nepal, India, Sri Lanka
	Crocodylus porosus	Saltwater crocodile or estuarine crocodile	Southeast Asia and Northern Australia
	Crocodylus rhombifer	Cuban crocodile	Cuba
	Crocodylus siamensis	Siamese crocodile	Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
	Crocodylus suchus	West African crocodile or desert crocodile	Mauritania, Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Gabon, Togo, Ivory Coast and Republic of Congo
	Crocodylus raninus (Considered to be a synonym of Crocodylus porosus; its status remains unclear.[3])	Borneo crocodile	Borneo

Fossils

Established species also include six extinct species:[4]

• † Crocodylus anthropophagus is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Tanzania.
• † Crocodylus checchiai is an extinct crocodile from Late Miocene of Kenya.
• † Crocodylus falconensis 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.

Phylogeny

The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences by Robert W. Meredith, Evon R. Hekkala, George Amato and John Gatesy.[5]

Crocodylus	Asia+Australia      C. porosus       C. palustris     C. siamensis           C. johnsoni       C. novaeguineae     C. mindorensis          Africa+New World    C. suchus       C. niloticus    New World    C. rhombifer       C. moreletii       C. acutus     C. intermedius

The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2012 analysis of morphological traits by Christopher A. Brochu and Glenn W. Storrs. Many extinct species of Crocodylus might represent different genera. C. suchus was not included, because its morphological codings were identical to these of C. niloticus. However, the authors suggested that it could be explained by their specimen sampling, and considered the two species to be distinct.[4]

Crocodyloidea

"Asiatosuchus" germanicus     Prodiplocynodon langi       Asiatosuchus grangeri     "Crocodylus" affinis     "Crocodylus" depressifrons       Brachyuranochampsa eversolei     "Crocodylus" acer    Crocodylidae   Tomistominae    Kentisuchus spenceri       Dollosuchoides densmorei     Megadontosuchus arduini           Gavialosuchus eggenburgensis     Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis         Tomistoma lusitanica     Tomistoma schlegelii           "Tomistoma" cairense       Thecachampsa antiqua     Thecachampsa americana     Thecachampsa carolinense         Penghusuchus pani       Paratomistoma courti     Maomingosuchus petrolica                Crocodylinae    "Crocodylus" megarhinus    Mekosuchinae    Kambara implexidens     Australosuchus clarkae       Trilophosuchus rackhami     Quinkana             Brochuchus pigotti     "Crocodylus" gariepensis       Euthecodon arambourgii     Euthecodon brumpti        Osteolaeminae    Rimasuchus lloydi       Voay robustus       Osteolaemus osborni     Osteolaemus tetraspis             Mecistops cataphractus    Crocodylus    C. checchiai     C. palaeindicus       C. anthropophagus     C. thorbjarnarsoni       C. niloticus       C. siamensis       C. palustris       C. porosus     C. johnsoni     C. mindorensis       C. novaeguineae     C. raninus               C. acutus     C. intermedius     C. rhombifer     C. moreletii

Evolution

Crocodylus species originated from an ancestor in the Indo-Pacific region between 9 million years ago and 16 million years ago.[6] They radiated into Africa between 8 million years ago and 12 million years ago. This was followed about 6 million years ago by a trans-Atlantic migration to the Americas.[7]

References

1. Laurenti, J. N. (1768). "XV. Crocodylus". Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam cum Experimentis circa Venena [Medical Treatise, Exhibiting an Emended Synopsis of Reptiles, with Experiments Concerning Venoms and Antidotes for Austrian Reptiles]. Viennae: Joan. Thomae. pp. 53–55.
2. Murray, Christopher M.; Russo, Peter; Zorrilla, Alexander; McMahan, Caleb D. (2019). "Divergent Morphology among Populations of the New Guinea Crocodile, Crocodylus novaeguineae (Schmidt, 1928) Diagnosis of An Independent Lineage and Description of A New Species". Copeia. 107 (3): 517–523. doi:10.1643/CG-19-240.
3. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Crocodylus&species=raninus
4. Brochu, C. A.; Storrs, G. W. (2012). "A giant crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya, the phylogenetic relationships of Neogene African crocodylines, and the antiquity of Crocodylus in Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 587. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.652324.
5. Robert W. Meredith, Evon R. Hekkala, George Amato and John Gatesy (2011). "A phylogenetic hypothesis for Crocodylus (Crocodylia) based on mitochondrial DNA: Evidence for a trans-Atlantic voyage from Africa to the New World". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 60: 183–191. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.026. PMID 21459152.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
6. Srikulnath, K; Thapana, W; Muangmai, N (2015). "Role of chromosome changes in Crocodylus evolution and diversity". Genomics Inform. 13 (4): 102–111. doi:10.5808/GI.2015.13.4.102. PMC 4742319. PMID 26865840.
7. Wu, X.-B.; Zhang, B.-W.; Deng, Y.-P.; Ouyang, J.-H.; Jiang, X.-Y.; Lee, P.-S.; Yan, P.; Zhang, H.-B.; Miao, J.-S.; Pan, T. (2020). "Near-complete phylogeny of extant Crocodylia (Reptilia) using mitogenome-based data". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa074.