| ? Crocodilia |
Crocodilia | | Scientific classification | | | | Suborders | | Eusuchia
Protosuchia †
Mesosuchia †
Sebecosuchia †
Thalattosuchia † Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1050x706, 209 KB) Alligator sinensis, Public domain picture from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Source: [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Crocodilia ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...
Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria Acoelomorpha Orthonectida Rhombozoa Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ...
Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with...
Orders Crocodilia - Crocodilians Rhynchocephalia - Tuataras Squamata Suborder Sauria- Lizards Suborder Serpentes - Snakes Suborder Amphisbaenia - Worm lizards Testudines - Turtles Superorder Dinosauria Saurischia Ornithischia The reptiles are a group of vertebrate animals. ...
Sir Richard Owen and Dinornis bird skeleton Sir Richard Owen (July 20, 1804 - December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. ...
| Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that scientists believe branched off from class Reptilia about 220 million years ago. They are the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs, as well as the birds. Orders Crocodilia - Crocodilians Rhynchocephalia - Tuataras Squamata Suborder Sauria- Lizards Suborder Serpentes - Snakes Suborder Amphisbaenia - Worm lizards Testudines - Turtles Superorder Dinosauria Saurischia Ornithischia The reptiles are a group of vertebrate animals. ...
Orders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Dinosaurs are giant reptiles that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for most of their 165-million year existence. ...
For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ...
Spelling The group is often spelled "Crocodylia" for consistency with the genus Crocodylus Laurenti, 1768. However, Richard Owen used the -i- spelling when he published the name in 1842, so by the usual rules of scientific classification his name has priority. In any case, the -i- spelling is a more accurate Latinization of the Greek κροκόδειλος (krokodeilos, literally "pebble-worm", referring to the shape and texture of the animal). This article needs to be wikified. ...
Joseph Nicolai Laurenti (December 4, 1735 - February 17, 1805) was an Austrian naturalist. ...
Sir Richard Owen and Dinornis bird skeleton Sir Richard Owen (July 20, 1804 - December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...
Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...
Description Like mammals and unlike most other reptiles, crocodiles have a four-chambered heart (although, monitor lizards have a four-chambered heart, as well); however, unlike mammals, oxygenated and deoxygenated blood can be mixed when the foramen of Panazzi is open, which bridges both ventricles in the heart. This opening is typically only open during diving, in order to shunt blood away from the lungs. Their blood has shown to have strong antibacterial powers. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
All crocodilians have "theocodont" dentitions (teeth set in bony sockets) but unlike mammals, they replace these teeth throughout life. Juvenile crocodilians replace teeth with larger ones at a rate as high as 1 new tooth per socket every month. After reaching adult size in a few years, however, tooth replacement rates can slow to two years and even longer. Very old members of some species have been seen in the "edentulous" (toothless) state, after teeth have been broken and replacement has apparently ceased. The result of this is that a single crocodile can go through at least 3,000 teeth in its lifetime. Each tooth is hollow, and the new one is growing inside the old. In this way, a new tooth is ready once the old is lost.
Crocodilians have a secondary bony palate that enables them to breathe when partially submerged, even if the mouth is full of water. Their internal nostrils open in the back of their throat, where a flap of skin closes off their respiratory system when they are underwater. This way they can open their mouths underwater without choking. Most reptiles lack a secondary palate, but some skinks (family Scincidae) have evolved a bony secondary palate too, to varying degrees.
The tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth, making it hard to move at all.
They lack a vomeronasal organ (yet it is detectable in the embryo) and a urinary bladder. The vomeronasal organ (VNO) or Jacobsons organ (sometimes misspelled Jacobsens) is an auxiliary olfactory sense organ in some vertebrates, all of which are tetrapods. ...
They have alveoli in their lungs and a unique muscular attachment to the liver and viscera that acts as a piston to breathing, separating the thoracic and abdominal cavities (similar to the diaphragm of mammals). Although tegu lizards have a primitive proto-diaphragm, separating the pulmonary cavity from the visceral cavity and allowing greater lung inflation, this has a different evolutionary history. A diaphragm is some sort of separating membrane. ...
Like all reptiles they have a relatively small brain, but it is more advanced than in other reptiles. Among other things it has a true cerebral cortex.
Crocodiles are often seen as they a laying with their mouths open, called gaping. One of its functions is probably to cool them down, but since they are also doing this at night and/or when it is raining, it is possible that gaping has a social function too.
The crocodile basic body plan has turned out to be very successful, as it appears to be a good solution which works very well. This is the reason why modern forms look very much the same way today as they did when the dinosaurs were still around. Even mammals have more or less adapted their body plan at at least one point in history. One primitive ancestor of the whales, Ambulocetidae, was an aquatic predator living in rivers and lakes. Ambulocetids seems to have filled an ecological niche similar to the modern crocodiles. Ambulocetidae is a family of early cetaceans that could walk on land. ...
They have a semi-erect, semi-sprawled posture, holding their legs more directly underneath them than most other reptiles (the chameleons are probably the only reptiles with a more erect posture than Crocodilia). This makes it possible for some species to even gallop on land if necessary; an australian species can reach a speed of over 16 km/h while galloping on an irregular forest floor. But their ancestors actually had a fully erect posture; their sprawling and semi-erect posture are secondary and evolved after they adapted to a life in water. Especially the ankle bones (tarsals) are highly modified. In other words, their locomotion is not primitive, instead it turns out it is very specialized and quite unique. It seems their distant ancestors most likely were fast-moving terrestrial predators, like Junggarsuchus sloani. An extinct and very early terrestrial crocodile, pristichampsus rollinatii, even had hoof-like toes. The front feet have five toes and the hind feet have four webbed toes. The three inner toes on the front feet and the three inner toes on the hind feet have claws. Genera Bradypodion Calumma Chamaeleo Furcifer Brookesia Rhampholeon Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are large lizards that belong to one of the best known lizard families. ...
As in many other aquatic or amphibian tetrapods, the eyes, ears, and nostrils are all located on the same plane. They see well at day and may even have color vision, plus the eyes have a vertical, cat-like pupil which also gives them excellent night vision. The iris is silvery, a light reflecting layer of tapetum behind the retina greatly increases their ability to see in weak light, this also makes their eyes glow in the dark. A third transperant eyelid, the nictitating membrane, protects their eyes underwater. But they can't focus under water, which means other senses are more important when they are under the surface. While birds and most reptiles have a ring of bones around each eye which supports the eyeball, a ring called the sclerotic ring, the crocodiles lack these bones (just like mammals and snakes). The eardrums are located behind the eyes and are covered by a movable flap of skin. This flap closes, along with the nostrils and eyes, when they dive, preventing water from entering their external head openings. The middle ear cavity has a complex of bony air-filled passages and a branching eustachian tube. There is also a small muscle (which is also seen in gecko) next to or upon the stapes, the stapedius, which probably functions in the same way as the mammalian stapedius muscle does, dampening strong vibrations. Many species of land animals have a nictitating membrane, sometimes (but incorrectly) spelled nicitating membrane, which can move across the eyeball to give the sensitive eye structures additional protection in particular circumstances. ...
Anatomy of the human ear. ...
This article describes gecko lizards. ...
What sex the juvenile will be is determined by the incubation temperature.
Crocodiles are said never to attack hippopotamuses, but it looks like they can attack and kill even these big animals if the individual crocodile is big enough. They rarely grow to such sizes, so most of the time the adult hippopotamuses are not in danger. Binomial name Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758 The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Greek ιÌπποÌποταμος (river horse) is a large, plant-eating African mammal, one of only two living and three (or four) recently extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae. ...
The skin is covered with non-overlapping scales composed of the protein keratin (the same protein that forms hoofs, skin, horns, feathers, hair, claws and nails in other tetrapods), which are are shed individually. On the head the skin is actually fused to the bones of the skull. There are small plates of bone, called osteoderms or scutes, under the scales. Just like a tree, crocodile osteoderms have annual growth rings, and by counting them it is possible to tell their age. Osteoderms are found especially on the back, and in some species also on the belly. The overlapping rows of scutes cover the crocodile's body from head to tail, forming a tough protective armor. Beneath the scales and osteoderms is another layer of armor, both strong and flexible and built of rows of bony overlapping shingles called osteoscutes, which are embedded in the animal's back tissue. The blood-rich bumpy scales seen on their backs acts as solar panels. Microscopic view of stained keratin. ...
Their spool-shaped vertebrae in their ancestors went from being biconcave to having a concave front and a convex back in the modern forms. This made the vertebral column more flexible and strong, a useful adaptation if you are hunting in water.
They posess ribs of dermal origin restricted to the sides of the ventral body wall. The collar bone (clavicle) is absent.
Crocodiles and gharials have modified salivary glands on their tongue, salt glands, used for excreting excess salt from their body. Alligators and caimans have them too, but here they are non functioning. This tells us that at some point the common origin of the Crocodilia were adapted to saline water and marine environments. This also explains their wide distribution across the continents. Species like the saltwater crocodiles (C. porosus) can still survive long periods in the sea. True crocodiles are probably the most original forms, while alligators and caimans have evolved from the crocodiles. Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma A crocodile can be any of the 14 species of large, water-loving reptiles in the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). ...
This article refers to the large reptile. ...
They are known to swallow stones, gastroliths ("stomach-stones"), which act as a ballast as well as help to crush up the bones of their prey. The crocodile stomach is divided into two chambers, the first one is described as being powerful and muscular, like a bird gizzard. This is where the gastroliths are found. The other stomach has the most acidic digestive system of any animal, and it can digest mostly everything from their prey; bones, feathers and horns.
The upper and lower jaws are covered with sensory pits, seen as small, black speckles on the skin, the crocodile version of the lateral organ we see in fish and many amphibians. But they have a completely different origin. These pigmented nodules encase bundles of nerve fibers that respond to the slightest disturbance in surface water, detecting vibrations and small pressure changes in water, making it possible for them to detect prey, danger and intruders even in total darkness. These sense organs are known as DPRs (Dermal Pressure Receptors). While alligators and caimans only have them on their jaws, crocodiles have similar organs on almost every scale on their body. The function of the DPRs on the jaws are clear, but it is still not quite clear what the organs on the rest of the body in crocodiles actually do. They are probably doing the same as the organs on their jaws, but it seems like they can do more than that, like assisting in chemical reception or even salinity detection. These sense organs are another reminder about how well these animals are adapted to water.
There is no doubt they are an old group of animals, but still they have characteristics more advanced than in any other reptile. It is wrong to call them "living fossils", because they have evolved much since their body plan first formed many million years ago. They may look similar, but since their ancestors first adapted to life in water they have undergone many changes. After the dinosaurs became extinct, some crocodiles became more terrestrial, trying to fill the niches earlier occupied by meat eating dinosaurs. Some extinct forms were even most likely vegetarians (Simosuchus clarki and Chimaerasuchus paradoxus), and would be hard to recognize as actual crocodiles. Primitive and long gone species such as Hesperosuchus and Gracilisuchus were facultatively bipedal. Others were much more adapted to a life in water than any of the species living today. The marine crocodile Metriorhynchus had modified its legs into flippers. If extinct forms are included, the crocodiles are a very diverse and adaptive group of reptiles.
Extinct Species - Dakosaurus andiensis
- Diplocynodon, an early alligator
- Geosaurus
- Iberosuchus
- Mekosuchus
- Metricorhynchus
- Quinkana
- Sarcosuchus
- Sebecus
Mekosuchus is a member of an extinct group of Australasian crocodiles called mekosuchines. ...
Binomial name Sarcosuchus imperator (Broin & Taquet, 1966) Nicknamed the SuperCroc, the prehistoric Sarcosuchus imperator (pronounced SAR-koh-SOO-kiss IM-peh-RAH-tor, and meaning flesh crocodile emperor) from the early Cretaceous of Africa is one of the largest giant crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. ...
Extant species Suborder Eusuchia - Family Crocodylidae
- Subfamily Crocodylinae
- Genus Crocodylus
- American Crocodile Crocodylus acutus
- Slender-snouted Crocodile Crocodylus cataphractus
- Orinoco Crocodile Crocodylus intermedius
- Australian Freshwater Crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni
- Philippine Crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis
- Morelet's Crocodile Crocodylus moreletii
- Nile Crocodile Crocodylus niloticus
- New Guinea Crocodile Crocodylus novaeguineae
- Mugger/Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris
- Estuarine/Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus
- Cuban Crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer
- Siamese Crocodile Crocodylus siamensis
- Dwarf Crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis
- False Gharial/Gavial Tomistoma schlegelii
- Subfamily Alligatorinae (alligators and caimans)
- Genus Alligator
- Genus Caiman
- Common Caiman Caiman crocodilus
- Bespectacled Caiman Caiman crocodilus crocodilus
- Brown Caiman Caiman crocodilus fuscus
- Rio Apaporis Caiman Caiman crocodilus apaporiensis
- Yacare Caiman Caiman yacare
- Broad-snouted Caiman Caiman latirostros
- Cuvier's Smooth-fronted Caiman Paleosuchus palpebrosus
- Scheider's Smooth-fronted Caiman Paleosuchus trigonuatus
- Black Caiman Melanosuchus niger
- Subfamily: Gavialinae (Gavial)
Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma A crocodile can be any of the 14 species of large, water-loving reptiles in the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). ...
Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma See full taxonomy. ...
This article needs to be wikified. ...
Binomial name Crocodylus acutus (Cuvier, 1807) The American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is the only New World crocodile and the top predator in its range. ...
The Orinoco Crocodile is a large crocodilian reptile found in freshwater rivers of northern South America, in particular the Orinoco river. ...
Binomial name Crocodylus niloticus (Laurenti, 1768) The Nile crocodile is the largest African crocodile and the top predator in its range, which covers most of Africa south of the Sahara, and the island of Madagascar. ...
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Binomial name Crocodylus rhombiferCuvier, 1807 The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) is a small species (8 feet average length) native only to Cubas Zapata Swamp, and highly endangered, though it formerly ranged throughout the Caribbean, possibly even into Florida. ...
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Genera Alligator Caiman Melanosuchus Paleosuchus Alligators and caimans are reptiles closely related to the crocodiles and forming the family Alligatoridae (sometimes regarded instead as the subfamily Alligatorinae). ...
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Binomial name Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin, 1801) American Alligator range map The American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a member of the one of the three families of crocodile-like reptiles, whose members are living fossils from the Age of Reptiles, having survived on earth for 200 million years. ...
The Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinesis) is a small relative of the well-known American Alligator. ...
Genera Alligator Caiman Melanosuchus Paleosuchus Alligators and caimans are reptiles closely related to the crocodiles and forming the family Alligatoridae (sometimes regarded instead as the subfamily Alligatorinae). ...
Binomial name Caiman yacare Daudin, 1802 The Yacare Caiman (Caiman yacare, Jacaré in Portuguese) is an alligator found in central South America, including northern Argentina, southern Bolivia, south-west Brazil (especially in the Pantanal marshland) Categories: Animal stubs | Crocodiles ...
Species Binomial name Caiman latirostris {{{author}}}, {{{date}}} The Broad-snouted, Brown-skinned Atef (Caiman latirostris) is a crocodilian reptile found in parts of South America. ...
Binomial name Melanosuchus niger Spix, 1825 The Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger) is an endangered species, related to alligators. ...
Binomial name Gavialis gangeticus (Gmelin, 1789) Taxonomy The Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is the only surviving member of the family Gavialidae, a long-established group of crocodile-like reptiles with long, narrow jaws. ...
Binomial name Gavialis gangeticus (Gmelin, 1789) // Taxonomy The Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is the only surviving member of the family Gavialidae, a long-established group of crocodile-like reptiles with long, narrow jaws. ...
Extinct suborders and families Suborder Eusuchia (one family living, see above) - Family Stomatosuchidae
- Family Hylaeochampsidae
- Family Bernissartiidae
- Family Crocodylidae
Suborder Protosuchia Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma A crocodile can be any of the 14 species of large, water-loving reptiles in the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). ...
- Family Protosuchidae
- Family Sphenosuchidae
Suborder Mesosuchia - Family Atoposauridae
- Family Goniopholidae
- Family Paralligatoridae
- Family Notosuchidae
- Family Libycosuchidae
- Family Sphagesauridae
- Family Hsisosuchidae
- Family Teleosauridae
- Family Pholidosauridae
- Family Congosauridae
Suborder Sebecosuchia - Family Baurusuchidae
- Family Sebecidae
Suborder Thalattosuchia
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