Crocodilia

Crocodilians Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous – Recent
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American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak
Phylum:	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak
Class:	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak
(unranked):	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak
Superorder:	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak
Order:	Template:Taxonomy/nobreak Owen, 1842
Families
Gavialidae Alligatoridae Crocodylidae

File:NileCrocodile.jpg

Nile crocodiles

The Order Crocodilia is a group of Archosaur reptiles. There are three living families.

Crocodiles are the nearest living relatives to birds, because they are both survivors of the Archosaurs.

Crocodiles are first found in the Upper Cretaceous period. They are descendents of a much wider group of Archosaurs called the Crocodylomorphs. These, in the Upper Triassic, were slender land-living forms, the sister group of the dinosaurs.

The Crocodylomorphs, in turn, were part of an even larger group, the Crurotarsi, which are first seen early in the Triassic.

• Sauropsida
  • Archosauria
    • Crurotarsi
      • Crocodylomorphs
        • Crocodilia

Taxonomy

• Order Crocodilia
  • Family Crocodylidae
    • Crocodiles
  • Family Alligatoridae
    • Alligators
    • Caimans
  • Family Gavialidae
    • Gharial
    • False Gharial

File:Crocodylidae Distribution.png

Distribution of crocodiles