Temporal range: 55–0Ma Eocene – Recent |Nile crocodile
(Crocodylus niloticus)| |Estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus
porosus)| |Worldwide distribution of crocodiles| Crocodiles
(subfamily Crocodylinae) or true crocodiles are large aquatic
tetrapods that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the
Americas and Australia. Crocodylinae, in which all its members
are considered true crocodiles, is classified as a biological
subfamily. A broader sense of the term crocodile, Crocodylidae,
that includes the tomistoma, was excluded in this article since
new genetic studies reveal the possibility of tomistoma as a
close relative of the gharial. This article applies the term
crocodile only to the species within the subfamily of
Crocodylinae. The term is sometimes used even more loosely to
include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: which
includes all members of Crocodylidae, including the tomistoma,
the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) and the
gharials (family Gavialidae), and the rest of Crocodylom