Crocodilia

The order Crocodilia is a group of archosaur reptiles. There are three living families of crocodilians.

Crocodilia Temporal range: Jurassic – Recent
American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
(unranked):	Archosauria
Superorder:	Crocodylomorpha
Order:	Crocodilia Owen, 1842
Families
Gavialidae Alligatoridae Crocodylidae

Some crocodilians are crocodiles, alligators, gharials, and caimans.

Crocodilians first evolved during the Earlier Jurassic period. They are descendents of a much wider group of archosaurs called the crocodylomorphs. These, in the Upper Triassic, were slender land-living animals.

The crocodylomorphs, in turn, were part of an even larger group, the Crurotarsi, which are first seen early in the Triassic.

Crocodilians are the sister group of the dinosaurs. This means crocodilians are the closest living relatives to birds. They are both survivors of the Archosauria.

Nile crocodiles

Taxonomy

Clade

• Sauropsida
  • Archosauria
    • Crurotarsi
      • Crocodylomorphs
        • Crocodilia

Families

• Order Crocodilia
  • Family Crocodylidae
    • Crocodiles
  • Family Alligatoridae
    • Alligators
    • Caimans
  • Family Gavialidae
    • Gharial
    • False gharial

• See also: Crocodilomorpha, the archosaur stem-group.

Distribution of crocodiles