American alligator
The American alligator was first classified by French zoologist François Marie Daudin as "Crocodilus mississipiensis" in 1801. In 1807, Georges Cuvier created the genus "Alligator"; the American alligator and the Chinese alligator are the only extant species in the genus. They are grouped in the family Alligatoridae with the caimans. The superfamily Alligatoroidea includes all crocodilians (fossil and extant) that are more closely related to the American alligator than to either the Nile crocodile ("Crocodylus niloticus") or the gharial ("Gavialis gangeticus").