Near-complete phylogeny of extant Crocodylia (Reptilia) using mitogenome-based data

Abstract

Species of the order Crocodylia are mostly large, predatory and semi-aquatic reptiles. Crocodylia, the closest living relatives of birds, first appeared in the Late Cretaceous period. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of 19 Crocodylia species, including two species (Melanosuchus niger and Caiman yacare) that have not been previously sequenced for mitogenomes, were processed through Illumina sequencing to offer genetic resources and compare with the mitogenomes of Crocodylia species reported previously. In addition, a high-resolution phylogenetic tree of nearly all current recognized species of Crocodylia is constructed based on mitogenomic data. Phylogenetic analyses support monophyly of three families: Alligatoridae (four genera: Alligator, Caiman, Melanosuchus and Paleosuchus), Crocodylidae (three genera: Crocodylus, Mecistops and Osteolaemus) and Gavialidae (two genera: Gavialis and Tomistoma). The tree topology is generally similar to previous studies. Molecular dating suggests that the first split within Crocodylia date back to the Upper Cretaceous (approx. 86.75 Mya). The estimated time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of Alligatoridae is 53.33 Mya and that of Crocodylidae and Gavialidae is 50.13 Mya, which might be closely linked to climate changes during the Late Palaeocene and Early Eocene. Additionally, this study proves that the diversification rate within Crocodylia began to increase from the Late Eocene (about 36 Mya) and two diversification peak periods of Crocodylia (0–10 Mya and 10–20 Mya) are disclosed, which is roughly consistent with the estimated crocodylian species richness through time. Combining all these clues, we can suggest that climate fluctuation may have played a decisive role in the speciation of Crocodylia.