Crocodilian Taxonomy

Corocdilian Taxonomy in Sanskrit

I will name the crocodilian groups into Sanskrit. Crocodylia is the order of reptiles that include crocodiles, alligators, gharials, and caimans.  They are a very cool species that have been around since the dinosaurs. Being of the group Archosauria, they are more closely related to birds than to lizards. 

Crocodiles have a notable imprtance in Indian culture, with the legendary Makara, being based on a crocodile. Infact the word makara often refers to a crocodile when it is not being used for the legendary animal.

The crocodile is found in Indus Valley Seals and in later history, is found a place in the Bhagavatam, namely in the Gajendra Moksha story. 

Below is the phylogenetic tree for the Crocodilians. This is not how you draw a phylogenetic tree, but I did it this way for convenience.

Now let us begin. So we all probably know that crocodiles are different from alligators. For the fourmer, they have long V-shaped snouts and the fourth bottom tooth is visible when its mouth is closed. For the lalter, they have a broader U-shaped snouts and have their fouth bottom tooth hidden when the mouth is clsoed. 

Now in India, there are no alligators, only crocodiles, so Indian langauges don't have a word for alligator. This is why, in this Indian system, a "crocodile" will refer to all members in the order Crocodilia, which is including alligators. 

We won't be using the word makara, for crocodilia, because the makara is a legendary creature which may be just a crocodile, but seems to also have in part elements of the ganges river dolphin. The word we are going to use is less ambigous, whcih is नक्र​.

The next is the Aligatoroidae which includes alligators and caimans. These individuals are charecterised by their wide snout. Thus I will call them "wide mouth crocodile", which is उर्वासनक्र​. Since it is a superfamily, it would be उर्वासनक्ररूप​. The family Aligatoridae, which consists of the living species, is सूर्वासनक्रमय​. 

Now, this group is split into two subfamilies, the actual Alligators and the Caimains. The former is charecterised by their snout which is wider than that of a caiman. So I will call them "wide snout crocodile", but with the word पृथु instead of उरु. Thus, पृथ्वासनक्र​. Since it is a subfamily, पृथ्वासनक्रात्मक​.

Caimans are the subfamily next to the alligators. Thus उपपृथ्वासनक्र​. Since it is a subfamily, उपपृथ्वासनक्रात्मक​.

Next comes to the Crocodiles and Gharials, which are a part of the clade Longirostres, which means "long snout". I will call them "narrow snout crocodile" or सङ्कटासनक्र​. Since this is a clade, there is no ending. 

With in that are the Crocodyloidae and Ghavialoidae, which are the Crocodiles and Gharials, repsectively. For the former, I chose सुनक्रदृशरूप​, becuase the family Crocodylidae is सुनक्रमय. The Gharial is easy to name as the word is from the Sanskrit: घण्टिक. Thus Ghavialoidae is घण्टिकरूप​. The family Ghavialidae is सुघण्टिकमय​.

Colclusion

II have rendered the Crocodilian taxas into Sanskrit. Here is the cladogram of them all: 

Crocodilia: नक्र

        Aligatoroidae: उर्वासनक्ररूप

            Aligatoridae: सूर्वासनक्रमय

                Caimaninae: उपपृथ्वासनक्रात्मक

                Aligatorinae: पृथ्वासनक्रात्मक

    Logirostres: सङ्कटासनक्र

        Crocodyloidae: सुनक्रदृशरूप

            Crocodylidae: सुनक्रमय

        Ghavlialoidae: घण्टिकरूप

            Ghavialidae: सुघण्टिकमय