Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The American alligator was first classified in 1801 by French zoologist François Marie Daudin as Crocodilus mississipiensis.In 1807, Georges Cuvier created the genus Alligator for it, [14] based on the English common name alligator (derived from Spanish word el lagarto, "the lizard").
An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae in the order Crocodilia. The two extant species are the American alligator (A. mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (A. sinensis). Additionally, several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains.
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 750,000–1,060,000 [2] Chinese alligator. A. sinensis
From scientific name of a reptile: This is a redirect from a scientific name of a reptile (or group of reptiles) to a vernacular ("common") name. When appropriate, protection levels are automatically sensed, described and categorized.
Fossils show that the form of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) has remained virtually unchanged in the last 8 million years, as if it had simply opted out of evolution.
Alligator in recovery at Florida wildlife park after being found wandering with half a jaw
Alligatorinae is cladistically defined as Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator) and all species closer to it than to Caiman crocodylus (the spectacled caiman). [ 8 ] [ 9 ] This is a stem-based definition for Alligatorinae, and means that it includes more basal extinct alligator ancestors that are more closely related to living ...
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.