• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Crocodiles have complex past

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 24, 2019
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

New study says modern-day crocodiles and alligators came from variety of surroundings

A new study throws into question the notion that today’s crocodiles and alligators have a simple evolutionary past.

Previous research has pointed to crocodiles and alligators starting with a land-based ancestor some 200 million years ago and then moving to fresh water, becoming the semi-aquatic ambush predators they are today.

But a new analysis, published online today in the journal Scientific Reports, offers a different story. Modern crocodiles and alligators came from a variety of surroundings beginning in the early Jurassic Period, and various species occupied a host of ecosystems over time, including land, estuarine, freshwater and marine.

As University of Iowa researcher and study co-author Christopher Brochu says, “Crocodiles are not living fossils. Transitions between land, sea, and freshwater were more frequent than we thought, and the transitions were not always land-to-freshwater or freshwater-to-marine.”

Brochu and colleagues from Stony Brook University pieced together crocodile and alligator ancestry by analyzing a large family tree showing the evolutionary history of living and extinct crocodylomorphs (modern crocodiles and alligators and their extinct relatives). The team was then able to predict the ancestral habitat for several divergence points on the evolutionary tree.

This suggests a complex evolutionary history not only of habitat, but of form. Those living at sea had paddles instead of limbs, and those on land often had hoof-like claws and long legs. These did not all evolve from ancestors that looked like modern crocodiles, as has long been assumed.

The paper is titled, “Evolutionary structure and timing of major habitat shifts in Crocodylomorpha.”

Study co-authors are Eric Wilberg and Alan Turner, from Stony Brook University.

The U.S. National Science Foundation funded the research, through grants to each author.

###

Media Contact
Richard Lewis
[email protected]
319-384-0012
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36795-1

Tags: BiodiversityEarth ScienceEcology/EnvironmentEvolutionMarine/Freshwater BiologyPaleontology
Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Fungi Enabled Life on Land Hundreds of Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Believed

Fungi Enabled Life on Land Hundreds of Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Believed

October 22, 2025
New Algorithm Reveals Genetic Links Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Specific Neurons

New Algorithm Reveals Genetic Links Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Specific Neurons

October 22, 2025

Carpenter Ants: Prioritizing Caution for Safety

October 22, 2025

Chinese Medical Journal Review Reveals ZBP1’s Crucial Role in Programmed Cell Death and Its Promise for Therapeutic Advances

October 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1274 shares
    Share 509 Tweet 318
  • Stinkbug Leg Organ Hosts Symbiotic Fungi That Protect Eggs from Parasitic Wasps

    305 shares
    Share 122 Tweet 76
  • ESMO 2025: mRNA COVID Vaccines Enhance Efficacy of Cancer Immunotherapy

    144 shares
    Share 58 Tweet 36
  • New Study Suggests ALS and MS May Stem from Common Environmental Factor

    131 shares
    Share 52 Tweet 33

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Key Mortality Predictors for Nursing Home Dementia Patients

Innovative Smart Learning Technology Addresses Training Gaps in Cervical Cancer Prevention

Fungi Enabled Life on Land Hundreds of Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Believed

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 66 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.