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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

West African crocodile

Crocodylus suchus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1807

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Crocodylus suchus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1807
Name authority
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1807
Common name
West African crocodile
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Crocodylia
Family
Crocodylidae
Genus
Crocodylus
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderCrocodylia
  10. familyCrocodylidae
  11. genusCrocodylus
  12. speciesCrocodylus suchus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1807

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Crocodylus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Hall’s New Guinea CrocodileCrocodylus halli Murray, Russo, Zorrilla & Mcmahan, 2019CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Freshwater CrocodileCrocodylus johnstoni Krefft, 1873CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
American crocodileCrocodylus acutus Cuvier, 1807CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Orinoco crocodileCrocodylus intermedius Graves, 1819CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Philippine crocodileCrocodylus mindorensis Schmidt, 1935CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
New Guinea crocodileCrocodylus novaeguineae Schmidt, 1928CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Marsh crocodileCrocodylus palustris Lesson, 1831CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Siamese crocodileCrocodylus siamensis Schneider, 1801CrocodylidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 13 records assigned to Crocodylidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Mauritania, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Senegal, Mali, Guinea (Conakry), Gambia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Dahomey (fide WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977), Sudan (Jumhūriyyat)

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Crocodylus&species=suchus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:ZKNT. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.