Crocodilia

The Crocodilia (or Crocodylia) are an order o muckle reptiles. Thay are the closest livin relatives o birds, as the twa groups are the anly kent survivors o the Archosauria. Members o the crocodilian tot group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared aboot 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period, an exhibitit a wide diversity o furms durin the Mesozoic era.

Crocodilians Temporal range: Late Cretaceous—Holocene 83.5–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Clockwise frae tap-left: sautwatter crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), an gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
Scientific classification
Kinrick:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Eusuchia
Order:	Crocodylia Owen, 1842
Subgroups
†Portugalosuchus? †Duerosuchus †Borealosuchus †Planocraniidae †Pristichampsidae Gavialoidea Brevirostres Alligatoroidea Crocodyloidea
Crocodylia distribution on laund (green) an at sea (blue)

The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles (faimily Crocodylidae), the alligators an caimans (faimily Alligatoridae) an the gharials (faimily Gavialidae). Altho the term 'crocodiles' is sometimes uised tae refer tae aw o these, a less ambiguous vernacular term for this groop is 'crocodilians'.