Crocodilia

Crocodilians Fossil range: Cretaceous – Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida (unranked) Archosauria Superorder: Crocodylomorpha Order: Crocodilia Owen, 1842
colour: range of Crocodilia
Families
Gavialidae Alligatoridae Crocodylidae

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

Look up Crocodilia in Wikispecies, a directory of species

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Crocodilia