Crocodylus

The generic name, Crocodylus, was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. Crocodylus contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct species. There are additional extinct species attributed to the genus Crocodylus that studies have shown no longer belong, although they have not yet been reassigned to new genera. Extant species The 13–14 living species are: Fossils Crocodylus also includes six extinct species: • † Crocodylus anthropophagus is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Tanzania. • † Crocodylus checchiai is an extinct crocodile from Late Miocene of Kenya. • † Crocodylus falconensis is an extinct crocodile from Early Pliocene of Venezuela. • † Crocodylus palaeindicus is an extinct crocodile the Miocene to the Pleistocene of southern Asia. • † Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni is an extinct crocodile from Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya. • † Crocodylus sudani is an extinct crocodile from the Late Pleistocene of Sudan. • † Crocodylus lucivenator is an extinct crocodile from the Late Pliocene of Ethiopia. ==Evolution==

While taxonomists generally agree that the crown group of Crocodylus appeared ~16 - 14 million years ago, there is an ongoing debate discussing whether the genus has an African or Indo-Pacific origin. Proponents of the African origin point towards phylogenetic evidence suggesting that the most recent common ancestor of Crocodylus and its sister genus, Voay, diverged around 25 million years ago near the Oligocene/Miocene boundary. Additionally, mitochondrial analysis consistently places Indo-Pacific species Crocodylus mindorensis, Crocodylus novaeguineae, and Crocodylus johnstoni in the basal-most clade of the genus. All known New World and African crocodylus species have a much more recent evolutionary origin. In 2021, Hekkala et al. were able to use paleogenomics, extracting DNA from the extinct Voay, to better establish the relationships within Crocodylidae, including the subfamilies Crocodylinae and Osteolaeminae. The below cladogram shows the results of the 2021 study, with supplementary data from the 2023 study: }} ==References==