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).

Crocodylinae Temporal range: Eocene–Holocene, 38–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Archosauromorpha
Clade:	Archosauriformes
Order:	Crocodilia
Family:	Crocodylidae
Subfamily:	Crocodylinae Cuvier, 1807
Type species
Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768
Genera
Crocodylus Mecistops? †Aldabrachampsus? †Voay

Taxonomy

Crocodylinae was cladistically defined by Christopher Brochu in 1999 as Crocodylus niloticus (the Nile crocodile) and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to Osteolaemus tetraspis (the Dwarf crocodile).^[1][2] This is a stem-based definition, and is the sister taxon to Osteolaeminae.

Crocodylinae contains the extant genus Crocodylus. It is disputed as to whether is also includes Mecistops (slender-snouted crocodiles),^[2][3] or the extinct genus Voay.^[4]

Phylogeny

Some morphological studies have recovered Mecistops as a basal member of Crocodylinae, more closely related to Crocodylus than to Osteolaemus and the other members of Osteolaeminae,^[2][3] as shown in the cladogram below.^[3]

Crocodylidae	Osteolaeminae Rimasuchus lloydi† Voay robustus† Osteolaemus osborni Osborn’s dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile "Crocodylus" gariepensis† Brochuchus parvidens† Brochuchus pigotti† Euthecodon arambourgi† Euthecodon brumpti† Crocodylinae Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni† Crocodylus anthropophagus† Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile Crocodylus checchiai† Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus acutus American crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile Crocodylus palaeindicus† Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile Crocodylus ossifragus† Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus raninus Borneo crocodile Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile	Paleoafrican Crocodylus Neotropical Crocodylus Indo-Pacific Crocodylus

The below cladogram is based on a 2021 study using paleogenomics that extracted DNA from the extinct Voay, recovering it as a member of Crocodylinae.^[4]

Crocodylidae

Osteolaeminae Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile Euthecodon† Brochuchus† Rimasuchus† Osteolaemus osborni Osborn’s dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile Crocodylinae Voay† Crocodylus Crocodylus anthropophagus† Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni† Crocodylus palaeindicus† Crocodylus Tirari Desert† Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile Crocodylus checchiai† Crocodylus falconensis† Crocodylus suchus West African crocodile Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus acutus American crocodile

(crown group)

Species list

American crocodile at La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico

A skull of the extinct Voay robustus

Crocodylinae contains 13-14 extant species and 6 extinct species.

• Subfamily Crocodylinae
  • Genus Crocodylus
    • Crocodylus acutus, American crocodile
    • Crocodylus halli, Hall's New Guinea crocodile
    • Crocodylus intermedius, Orinoco crocodile
    • Crocodylus johnstoni, Freshwater crocodile, or Johnstone's crocodile
    • Crocodylus mindorensis, Philippine crocodile
    • Crocodylus moreletii, Morelet's crocodile or Mexican crocodile
    • Crocodylus niloticus, Nile crocodile
    • Crocodylus novaeguineae, New Guinea crocodile
    • Crocodylus palustris, mugger, marsh or Indian crocodile
    • Crocodylus porosus, Saltwater crocodile 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.^[5]
    • Crocodylus rhombifer, Cuban crocodile
    • Crocodylus siamensis, Siamese crocodile
    • Crocodylus suchus, West African crocodile, desert or sacred crocodile
    • Crocodylus anthropophagus†
    • Crocodylus checchiai†
    • Crocodylus falconensis†
    • Crocodylus palaeindicus†
    • Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni†
  • Genus Voay†
    • Voay robustus† (formerly Crocodylus robustus)

References

1. 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): 587–602. Bibcode:2012JVPal..32..587B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.652324. S2CID 85103427.
2. Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
3. Azarra, Beatrice; Boschian, Giovanni; Brochu, Christopher; Delfino, Massimo; Iurino, Dawid Adam; Kimambo, Jackson Stanley; Manzi, Giorgio; Masao, Fidelis T.; Menconero, Sofia; Njau, Jackson K; Cherin, Marco (2021). "A new cranium of Crocodylus anthropophagus from Olduvai Gorge, northern Tanzania". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research in Paleontology and Stratigraphy). 127 (2): 275–295. doi:10.13130/2039-4942/15771.
4. Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 505. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8079395. PMID 33907305.
5. "Species | the Reptile Database".