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:


ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Crocodylus acutus American crocodileSouthern 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 crocodileColombia and Venezuela
Crocodylus johnstoniFreshwater crocodileNorthern regions of Australia
Crocodylus mindorensisPhilippine crocodileNorthern 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 crocodileMexico, Belize and Guatemala
Crocodylus niloticusNile 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 novaeguineaeNew Guinea crocodilenorthern New Guinea
Crocodylus palustrisMugger crocodile, marsh crocodile, or Indian crocodilesouthern Iran, southern Pakistan, southern Nepal, India, Sri Lanka
Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile or estuarine crocodileSoutheast Asia and Northern Australia
Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodileCuba
Crocodylus siamensisSiamese crocodileIndonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Crocodylus suchusWest African crocodile or desert crocodileMauritania, 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]

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. johnstoni

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. johnstoni

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 5 to 6 million years ago by a trans-Atlantic migration to the Americas.[7][8]

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. S2CID 85103427.
  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 (1): 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. Oaks, J.R. (2011). "A time-calibrated species tree of Crocodylia reveals a recent radiation of the true crocodiles". Evolution. 65 (11): 3285–3297. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01373.x. PMID 22023592. S2CID 7254442.
  8. Pan, T.; Miao, J.-S.; Zhang, H.-B.; Yan, P.; Lee, P.-S.; Jiang, X.-Y.; Ouyang, J.-H.; Deng, Y.-P.; Zhang, B.-W.; Wu, X.-B. (2020). "Near-complete phylogeny of extant Crocodylia (Reptilia) using mitogenome-based data". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa074.
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