Crocodile
Taxonomy and phylogeny
Subfamily Crocodylinae Genus Crocodylus Crocodylus acutus, American crocodile Crocodylus intermedius, Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus johnsoni, freshwater crocodile, or Johnstone's crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis, Philippine crocodile Crocodylus moreletii, Morelet's crocodile or Mexican crocodile Crocodylus niloticus, Nile crocodile or African crocodile (the subspecies found in Madagascar is sometimes called the black crocodile) Crocodylus novaeguineae, New Guinea crocodile Crocodylus palustris, mugger, marsh or Indian crocodile Crocodylus porosus, saltwater crocodile or estuarine crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer, Cuban crocodile Crocodylus siamensis, Siamese crocodile (may be extinct in the wild) Crocodylus suchus, West African crocodile, desert or sacred crocodile Genus Osteolaemus Osteolaemus tetraspis, dwarf crocodile (There has been controversy as to whether or not this is actually two species; recent (2010) DNA analysis indicate three distinct species: O. tetraspis, O. osborni and a third, currently unnamed.) Genus Mecistops Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile Mecistops leptorhynchus Central African slender-snouted crocodile Genus †Euthecodon Genus †Rimasuchus (formerly Crocodylus lloydi) Genus †Voay Brochu, 2007 (formerly Crocodylus robustus) The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2012 analysis of morphological traits by Christopher A. Brochu and Glenn W. Storrs. Many extinct species of Crocodylus might represent different genera. "Crocodylus" pigotti, for example, was placed in the newly erected genus Brochuchus in 2013. C. suchus was not included because its morphological codings were identical to those of C. niloticus. However, the authors suggested that the lack of differences was due to limited specimen sampling, and considered the two species to be distinct. This analysis found weak support for the clade Osteolaeminae. Brochu named Osteolaeminae in 2003 as a subfamily of Crocodylidae separate from Crocodylinae, but the group has since been classified within Crocodylinae. It includes the living genus Osteolaemus as well as the extinct species Voay robustus and Rimasuchus lloydi.
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