Crocodylus

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Crocodylus
Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus)

Nile crocodiles ( Crocodylus niloticus )

Systematics
without rank: Amniotes (Amniota)
without rank: Sauropsida
without rank: Archosauria
Order : Crocodiles (crocodylia)
Family : Real crocodiles (Crocodylidae)
Genre : Crocodylus
Scientific name
Crocodylus
Laurenti , 1768

The genus Crocodylus is the largest genus of crocodiles (Crocodylia) and there the real crocodiles . It comprises 13 species that can be found in the tropical regions of Africa , Asia and Oceania as well as South America .

features

Crocodylus species are medium-sized to very large crocodiles that have longer snouts compared to the stump crocodiles ( Osteolaemus ), but just like these, in contrast to the Sunda Gavial , they have fewer than 20 teeth on each side of the upper jaw and clearly separated neck and back scales. The species of the genus differ from all other real crocodiles by four synapomorphies of the skeleton: a waist-like indentation on the ilium , several indentations on the inside of the maxillary bone , a forked anterior ectopterygoid process and an articular bone that is visible when the lower jaw is viewed from the side .

Systematics

In addition to several fossil species, the genus includes 13 species occurring today. As the adjacent cladogram shows, three of the currently recognized Crocodylus species are not monophyletic , but consist of at least two clades with different positions in the cladogram. These are the Nile crocodile, the Siamese crocodile and the Estuarine crocodile.

Relationships within the genus Crocodylus according to Meredith et al. 2011.
  Crocodylus  


  New world - clade  



 Orinoco crocodile ( C. intermedius )


   

 American crocodile ( C. acutus )



   

 Bumpy crocodile ( C. moreletii )



   

 Cuban crocodile ( C. rhombifer )



   

 Eastern Nile crocodile ( C. niloticus )



   

 Western Nile Crocodile ( C. niloticus )



  Asian clade  




 Saltwater crocodile ( C. porosus ) I.


   

 Siamese crocodile ( C. siamensis ) I.



   

 Saltwater crocodile ( C. porosus ) II



   

 Marsh crocodile ( C. palustris )


   

 Siamese crocodile ( C. siamensis ) II




   


 New Guinea crocodile ( C. novaeguineae )


   

 Philippines crocodile ( C. mindorensis )



   

 Australian crocodile ( C. johnsoni )





Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style
Distribution area of ​​the recent Crocodylus species

literature

  • Charles A. Ross (Ed.): Crocodiles and Alligators - Evolution, Biology and Distribution. Orbis Verlag, Niedernhausen 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jay Mathers Savage: The amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: a herpetofauna between two continents, between two seas . University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-226-73537-5 , pp. 778 .
  2. ↑ a b Christopher A. Brochu: Phylogenetic Relationships and Divergence Timing of Crocodylus Based on Morphology and the Fossil Record . In: Copeia . No. 3 , 2000, pp. 657-673 (English).
  3. ↑ a b Christopher M. Murray, Peter Russo, Alexander Zorrilla and Caleb D. McMahan. 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
  4. ^ A b Robert W. Meredith, Evon R. Hekkala, George Amato, John Gatesy: 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, Volume 60, Issue 1, July 2011, Pages 183-191, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2011.03.026

Web links

Commons : Crocodylus  - collection of images, videos and audio files