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Crocodyloidea

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A Nile Crocodile resting near Victoria Nile in Murchison Falls National Park.

Crocodyloidea is one of three superfamilies of crocodilians, along with Alligatoroidea and Gavialoidea. It includes the crocodiles that we see today. Some scientists think it also includes a group called Mekosuchinae, which lived a long time ago in a place called Australasia. They lived from a time called the Eocene all the way to the Holocene, but not everyone agrees on this. These ancient crocodiles are now extinct, meaning they no longer exist.

Classification

Cladistically, this group is defined by the Nile crocodile and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to the American alligator or the gharial. This is a way to describe what crocodiles are, and it includes more types than just the living crocodiles. When talking only about living animals, the terms Crocodyloidea and Crocodylidae mean the same thing, but Crocodyloidea is used when studying fossils.

Traditionally, crocodiles and alligators were thought to be more closely related to each other than to gharials. But recent studies using DNA have shown that crocodiles are actually more closely related to gharials. This led to the creation of a new group called Longirostres.

Images

A Spectacled Caiman, a type of small crocodile, shown against a plain white background.
A black caiman, a large reptile species, shown on a white background.
A Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, a small crocodilian species, shown on a white background.
An American alligator, a large reptile species found in the southeastern United States.
A Siamese crocodile, a unique reptile species from Thailand, shown on a white background.
A crocodile species called Crocodylus cataphractus, displayed in an aquarium in Paris.
A West African dwarf crocodile, a small reptile species, shown on a white background.
A Gharial, a long-snouted crocodile species, shown in a clean and educational style against a white background.
A False gharial, a type of reptile, displayed in a museum. Great for learning about animals!
A scientific illustration of Deinosuchus riograndensis, an enormous ancient crocodile from the time of the dinosaurs.
An artist's sketch of Purussaurus, a giant crocodile from millions of years ago.
An artist's illustration of Crocodylus anthropophagus, an ancient crocodile species, showing how scientists imagine it might have looked.
An artist's illustration of Hanyusuchus sinensis, an ancient crocodile-like creature from the time of the dinosaurs.

Related articles

Australasia
Eocene
Cladistics

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Crocodyloidea, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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