Crocodylus checchiai

Crocodylus checchiai; Temporal range: Late Miocene - early Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Crocodilia
Family:	Crocodylidae
Genus:	Crocodylus
Species:	C. checchiai
Binomial name
	Crocodylus checchiai; Maccagno, 1957

Crocodylus checchiai is an extinct species of crocodile from the Pliocene of Libya and the Miocene of Kenya. C. checchiai was named in 1957 from the . It is similar in appearance to the Nile crocodile C. niloticus and may even be the same species. Remains from the lower in the Turkana Basin of Kenya that were first attributed to the Nile crocodile have now been reassigned to C. checchiai, extending its geographic and temporal range.^[1]

A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age),^[2] along with genetic information collected from extinct Voay ^[3] produced the tree shown below:

Crocodylidae

Osteolaeminae

	Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile

	Euthecodon†

Brochuchus†

Rimasuchus†

	Osteolaemus osborni Congo dwarf crocodile

	Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile

Crocodylinae

Voay†

Crocodylus

	Crocodylus anthropophagus†

	Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni†

	Crocodylus palaeindicus†

	Crocodylus Tirari Desert†

Asia+Australia

Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile

	Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile

	Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile

Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile

	Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile

	Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile

Africa+New World

	Crocodylus checchiai†

	Crocodylus falconensis†

Crocodylus suchus West African crocodile

Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile

New World

	Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile

	Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile

	Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile

	Crocodylus acutus American crocodile

(crown group)

References[]

^ Brochu, C. A.; Storrs, G. W. (2012). "A giant crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya, the phylogenetic relationships of Neogene African crocodylines, and the antiquity of Crocodylus in Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 587. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.652324.
^ Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071.
^ Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8079395.

This article about a prehistoric archosaur is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[BS12-1] Brochu, C. A.; Storrs, G. W. (2012). "A giant crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya, the phylogenetic relationships of Neogene African crocodylines, and the antiquity of Crocodylus in Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 587. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.652324.

[LeeYates2018-2] Michael S. Y. Lee; Adam M. Yates (27 June 2018). "Tip-dating and homoplasy: reconciling the shallow molecular divergences of modern gharials with their long fossil". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285 (1881). doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1071.

[Hekkala2021-3] Hekkala, E.; Gatesy, J.; Narechania, A.; Meredith, R.; Russello, M.; Aardema, M. L.; Jensen, E.; Montanari, S.; Brochu, C.; Norell, M.; Amato, G. (2021-04-27). "Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus". Communications Biology. 4 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02017-0. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 8079395.

[1]

[2]

[3]