Crocodilia is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, which includes true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans, and the gharial and false gharial. A member of this order is called a crocodilian, or colloquially a crocodile.
The 9 genera and 28 species of Crocodilia are split into 3 subfamilies: Alligatoridae, alligators and caimans; Crocodylidae, true crocodiles; and Gavialidae, the gharial and false gharial.
Conservation status | |
---|---|
EX | Extinct (0 species) |
EW | Extinct in the wild (0 species) |
CR | Critically Endangered (7 species) |
EN | Endangered (0 species) |
VU | Vulnerable (4 species) |
NT | Near threatened (0 species) |
LC | Least concern (12 species) |
Other categories | |
DD | Data deficient (0 species) |
NE | Not evaluated (5 species) |
Conservation status codes listed follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Range maps are provided wherever possible; if a range map is not available, a description of the crocodilian's range is provided. Ranges are based on the IUCN red list for that species unless otherwise noted. All extinct species or subspecies listed alongside extant species went extinct after 1500 CE, and are indicated by a dagger symbol "†". Population figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
The order Crocodilia consists of 28 extant species belonging to 9 genera. This does not include hybrid species or extinct prehistoric species. Modern molecular studies indicate that the 9 genera can be grouped into 3 families.
Family Alligatoridae (Alligators and caimans)
Family Crocodylidae (True crocodiles)
Family Gavialidae (Gharial and false gharial)
The extant Alligatoridae can be recognised by the broad snout, in which the fourth tooth of the lower jaw cannot be seen when the mouth is closed. [1]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
American alligator | A. mississippiensis Daudin, 1801 | Southeastern United States | Size: up to 450 kg (990 lb) Habitat: Wetlands (inland), intertidal marine, and coastal marine [2] Diet: [2] | LC
|
Chinese alligator | A. sinensis Fauvel, 1879 | Eastern China | Size: up to 45 kg (99 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [3] Diet: [3] | CR
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spectacled caiman | C. crocodilus Linnaeus, 1758 | Northern South America and Central America | Size: up to 45 kg (99 lb) Habitat: Forest, savanna, shrubland, grassland, and inland wetlands [4] Diet: [4] | LC
|
Broad-snouted caiman | C. latirostris Daudin, 1802 | Southeastern South America | Size: up to 50 kg (110 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands and intertidal marine [5] Diet: [5] | LC
|
Yacare caiman | C. yacare Daudin, 1802 | Central and southern South America | Size: up to 60 kg (130 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [6] Diet: [6] | LC
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Black caiman | M. niger Spix, 1825 | Northern South America | Size: up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) Habitat: [7] Diet: [7] | LC
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cuvier's dwarf caiman | P. palpebrosus Cuvier, 1807 | Northern and central South America | Size: typically 6–7 kg (13–15 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [8] Diet: [8] | LC
|
Smooth-fronted caiman | P. trigonatus Schneider, 1801 | Northern South America | Size: typically 9–20 kg (20–44 lb) Habitat: Forest and inland wetlands [9] Diet: [9] | LC
|
The extant Crocodylidae have a variety of snout shapes, but can be recognised because the fourth tooth of the lower jaw is visible when the mouth is closed. [1]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
American crocodile | C. acutus Cuvier, 1807 | Northern South America, Central America, Greater Antilles | Size: up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) Habitat: Forest, neritic marine, intertidal marine, and coastal marine [10] Diet: [10] | VU
|
Hall's New Guinea crocodile | C. halli Murray, Russo, Zorrilla, McMahan, | New Guinea | Size: up to 3.5 m (11 ft) for males and 2.7 m (8.9 ft) for females Habitat: Swamps, rivers, and lakes Diet: | NE
|
Orinoco crocodile | C. intermedius Graves, 1819 | Northern South America | Size: up to 635 kg (1,400 lb) Habitat: Forest, savanna, and inland wetlands [11] Diet: [11] | CR
|
Freshwater crocodile | C. johnstoni Krefft, 1873 | Northern Australia | Size: up to 100 kg (220 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [12] Diet: [12] | LC
|
Philippine crocodile | C. mindorensis Schmidt, 1935 | Philippines | Size: up to 90 kg (200 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [13] Diet: [13] | CR
|
Morelet's crocodile | C. moreletii Duméril, 1851 | Eastern Mexico | Size: up to 150 kg (330 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [14] Diet: [14] | LC
|
Nile crocodile | C. niloticus Laurenti, 1768 | Sub-Saharan Africa | Size: up to 750 kg (1,650 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands, neritic marine, intertidal marine, and coastal marine [15] Diet: [15] | LC
|
New Guinea crocodile | C. novaeguineae Schmidt, 1928 | New Guinea | Size: up to 200 kg (440 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [16] Diet: [16] | LC
|
Mugger crocodile | C. palustris Lesson, 1831 | Southern Asia | Size: up to 400 kg (880 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands and neritic marine [17] Diet: [17] | VU
|
Saltwater crocodile | C. porosus Schneider, 1801 | South and Southeast Asia, northern Australia and Oceania | Size: up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) Habitat: [18] Diet: [18] | LC
|
Borneo crocodile | C. raninus Müller, 1844 | Borneo | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NE
|
Cuban crocodile | C. rhombifer Cuvier, 1807 | Cuba | Size: up to 215 kg (474 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [19] Diet: [19] | CR
|
Siamese crocodile | C. siamensis Schneider, 1801 | Southeast Asia | Size: up to 120 kg (260 lb) Habitat: Inland wetlands [20] Diet: [20] | CR
|
West African crocodile | C. suchus Geoffroy, 1807 | Western and central Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NE
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
West African slender-snouted crocodile | M. cataphractus F. Cuvier, 1825 | Western Africa | Size: up to 325 kg (717 lb) Habitat: Forest, savanna, inland wetlands, neritic marine, and coastal marine [21] Diet: [21] | CR
|
Central African slender-snouted crocodile | M. leptorhynchus Bennett, 1835 | Central Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NE
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Osborn's dwarf crocodile | O. osborni Schmidt, 1919 | Congo Basin | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NE
|
Dwarf crocodile | O. tetraspis Cope, 1861 | Western Africa | Size: Habitat: [22] Diet: [22] | VU
|
Gavialidae can be recognised by the long narrow snout, with an enlarged boss at the tip. [1]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gharial | G. gangeticus Gmelin, 1789 | Scattered south Asia | Size: up to 680 kg (1,500 lb) Habitat: Wetlands (inland) [23] Diet: [23] | CR
|
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
False gharial | T. schlegelii Müller, 1838 | Southeast Asia | Size: up to 270 kg (600 lb) Habitat: Forest and inland wetlands [24] Diet: [24] | VU
|
The family Alligatoridae of crocodylians includes alligators, caimans and their extinct relatives.
Crocodiles or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans, the gharial and false gharial among other extinct taxa.
Crocodilia is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles known as crocodilians. They first appeared 94 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period and are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria. Members of the order's total group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared about 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period, and diversified during the Mesozoic era. The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans, and the gharial and false gharial. Although the term crocodiles is sometimes used to refer to all of these, crocodilians is a less ambiguous vernacular term for members of this group.
Gavialidae is a family of large semiaquatic crocodilians with elongated, narrow snouts. Gavialidae consists of two living species, the gharial and the false gharial, both occurring in Asia. Many extinct members are known from a broader range, including the recently extinct Hanyusuchus. Gavialids are generally regarded as lacking the jaw strength to capture the large mammalian prey favoured by crocodiles and alligators of similar size so their thin snout is best used to catch fish, however the false gharial has been found to have a generalist diet with mature adults preying upon larger vertebrates, such as ungulates.
The yacare caiman, also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, and southern spectacled caiman, is a species of caiman, a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. The species is endemic to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Brown in color and covered with dark blotches, males grow to a total length of 2–3 m and weigh around 40–50 kg (88–110 lb); while females grow to 1.4 m long and about 15–20 kg (33–44 lb). Typical habitats of this caiman include lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Its diet primarily consists of aquatic animals, such as snails, and occasionally land vertebrates. Mating occurs in the rainy season and eggs hatch in March, with young fending for themselves as soon as they hatch. The yacare caiman was hunted heavily for its skin to use for leather in the 1980s, which caused its population to decrease significantly. However, trading restrictions placed since have caused its population to increase. Its population in the Pantanal is about 10 million, and it is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.
Melanosuchus is a genus of caiman. The black caiman of South America is the sole extant (living) species, and is the largest living member of the subfamily Caimaninae, as well as the entire alligator family Alligatoridae.
The Nile crocodile is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the eastern, southern, and central regions of the continent, and lives in different types of aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and marshlands. Although capable of living in saline environments, this species is rarely found in saltwater, but occasionally inhabits deltas and brackish lakes. The range of this species once stretched northward throughout the Nile River, as far north as the Nile Delta. Generally, the adult male Nile crocodile is between 3.5 and 5 m in length and weighs 225 to 750 kg. However, specimens exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft) in length and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) in weight have been recorded. It is the largest freshwater predator in Africa, and may be considered the second-largest extant reptile in the world, after the saltwater crocodile. Size is sexually dimorphic, with females usually about 30% smaller than males. The crocodile has thick, scaly, heavily armoured skin.
The American crocodile is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.
The gharial, also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are 2.6 to 4.5 m long, and males 3 to 6 m. Adult males have a distinct boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known as a ghara, hence the name "gharial". The gharial is well adapted to catching fish because of its long, narrow snout and 110 sharp, interlocking teeth.
The broad-snouted caiman is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae found in eastern and central South America, including southeastern Brazil, northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It is the second largest caiman and the third largest alligatorid. It is found mostly in freshwater marshes, swamps, and mangroves, usually in still or very slow-moving waters. It will often use man-made cow ponds.
The Orinoco crocodile is a critically endangered crocodile. Its population is very small, and they can only be found in the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela and Colombia. Extensively hunted for their skins in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is one of the most endangered species of crocodiles. It is a very large species of crocodilian; males have been reported up to 6.8 m in the past, weighing over 900 kg (2,000 lb), but such sizes do not exist today, 5.2 m being a more widely accepted maximum size. A large male today may attain 4.2 m in length and can weigh up to 450 kg (1,000 lb), while females are substantially smaller with the largest likely to weigh around 225 kg (496 lb). Sexual dimorphism is not as profound as in other crocodilian species. The coloration is light even in adults.
Cuvier's dwarf caiman is a small crocodilian in the alligator family from northern and central South America. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Venezuela. It lives in riverine forests, flooded forests near lakes, and near fast-flowing rivers and streams. It can traverse dry land to reach temporary pools and tolerates colder water than other species of caimans. Other common names for this species include the musky caiman, the dwarf caiman, Cuvier's caiman, and the smooth-fronted caiman. It is sometimes kept in captivity as a pet and may be referred to as the wedge-head caiman by the pet trade community.
The smooth-fronted caiman, also known as Schneider's dwarf caiman or Schneider's smooth-fronted caiman, is a crocodilian from South America, where it is native to the Amazon and Orinoco Basins. It is the second-smallest species of the family Alligatoridae, the smallest being Cuvier's dwarf caiman, also from tropical South America and in the same genus. An adult typically grows to around 1.2 to 1.6 m in length and weighs between 9 and 20 kg. Exceptionally large males can reach as much as 2.3 m (7.5 ft) in length and 36 kg (79 lb) in weight.
The dwarf crocodile, also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest extant (living) species of crocodile.
Morelet's crocodile, also known as the Mexican crocodile or Belize crocodile, is a modest-sized crocodilian found only in fresh waters of the Atlantic regions of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It usually grows to about 3 metres (10 ft) in length. It is a Least Concern species. The species has a fossil record in Guatemala.
Paleosuchus is a South American genus of reptiles in the subfamily Caimaninae of the family Alligatoridae. They are the smallest members of the order Crocodilia in the Americas. The genus contains two extant species and a yet unnamed fossil species.
The spectacled caiman, also known as the white caiman, common caiman, and speckled caiman, is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. It is brownish-, greenish-, or yellowish-gray colored and has a spectacle-like ridge between its eyes, which is where its common name come from. It grows to a length of 1.4–2.5 m and a weight of 7–40 kg (15–88 lb), with males being both longer and heavier than females. Its diet varies seasonally, commonly consisting of crabs, fish, small mammals, amphibians and snails. Breeding occurs from May to August and 14–40 eggs are laid in July and August. This crocodilian has a large range and population; it is native to much of Latin America, and has been introduced to the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
A caiman is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico and Central and South America from marshes and swamps to mangrove rivers and lakes. They have scaly skin and live a fairly nocturnal existence. They are relatively small-sized crocodilians with an average maximum weight of 6 to 40 kg depending on species, with the exception of the black caiman, which can grow more than 4 m (13 ft) in length and weigh in excess of 1,000 kg. The black caiman is the largest caiman species in the world and is found in the slow-moving rivers and lakes that surround the Amazon basin. The smallest species is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman, which grows to 1.2 to 1.5 m long. There are six different species of caiman found throughout the watery jungle habitats of Central and Southern America. The average length for most of the other caiman species is about 2 to 2.5 m long.
Alligatoroidea is one of three superfamilies of crocodylians, the other two being Crocodyloidea and Gavialoidea. Alligatoroidea evolved in the Late Cretaceous period, and consists of the alligators and caimans, as well as extinct members more closely related to the alligators than the two other groups.
Osteolaeminae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae containing the dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae.