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The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) 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, the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, [4] and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Unlike the other extinct alligator species of the same genus, the fossil skull was virtually indistinguishable from that of the modern American alligator. This alligator and the American alligator are now considered to be sister taxa, suggesting that the A. mississippiensis lineage has existed in North America for seven to eight million years. [1]
The generic name, Crocodylus, was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. [2] Crocodylus contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct species. There are additional extinct species attributed to the genus Crocodylus that studies have shown no longer belong, although they have not yet been reassigned to new genera.
Alligators and crocodiles differ in some key ways, from their scales to teeth to snout shape and beyond. Watch the latest video from A-Z-Animals to discover fascinating facts about these two ...
Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) 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 more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (both members of the family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (both ...
Alligators and caimans split in North America during the early Tertiary or late Cretaceous (about 53 million to about 65 million years ago). [4] [5] The Chinese alligator split from the American alligator about 33 million years ago [4] and probably descended from a lineage that crossed the Bering land bridge during the Neogene.
Just the facts: American crocodile » Found in South Florida, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean. » Nesting occurs on well-drained, sandy areas near salt or brackish water.
An alligator nest at Everglades National Park, Florida, United States Alligator olseni forelimb Alligator prenasalis fossil. The superfamily Alligatoroidea is thought to have split from the crocodile-gharial lineage in the late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago, but possibly as early as 100 million years ago based on molecular phylogenetics.