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Crocodylinae

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Crocodylinae
Temporal range: EoceneHolocene, 38–0 Ma
Mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)
Scientific classification Edit this 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

Crocodylinae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae, and is the sister taxon to Osteolaeminae (dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles).

Taxonomy

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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

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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
Crocodylinae

Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile

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

Brochuchus

Rimasuchus

Osteolaemus osborni Osborn’s dwarf crocodile

Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile

Crocodylinae

Voay

Crocodylus

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 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

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American crocodile at La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico
A skull of the extinct Voay robustus

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

References

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  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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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".