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.[3]
Southern Florida and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of north Mexico to North America as far south as Peru and Venezuela, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Grand Cayman.
Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park within the Luzon rainforest, San Mariano, Isabela, Dalupiri island in the Babuyan Islands, Abra (province) in Luzon and the Ligawasan Marsh, Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, Pulangi River in Bukidnon, and possibly in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Mindanao
Nile crocodile or African crocodile, (the subspecies found in Madagascar, C. n. madagascariensis, is sometimes called the black crocodile)
Israel and Syria (historically), Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Angola, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Sudan, South Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon
Crocodylus likely originated in Africa and radiated outwards towards Southeast Asia and the Americas,[6] although an Australia/Asia origin has also been considered.[7]Phylogenetic evidence supports Crocodylus diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct Voay of Madagascar, around 25 million years ago, near the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.[6]
^Laurenti, J.N. (1768). "XV. Crocodylus". Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austriacorum [Medical Treatise, Exhibiting an Emended Synopsis of Reptiles, with Experiments Concerning Venoms and Antidotes for Austrian Reptiles]. Vienna: Joan. Thom. Nob. de Trattnern. pp. 53–55.
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