Osteolaeminae
Osteolaeminae is a subfamily of true crocodiles within the family Crocodylidae containing the dwarf crocodiles and slender-snouted crocodiles, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae. Taxonomy. Osteolaeminae was named by Christopher Brochu in 2003 as a subfamily of Crocodylidae separate from Crocodylinae, and is cladistically defined as "Osteolaemus tetraspis" (the Dwarf crocodile) and all crocodylians more closely related to it than to "Crocodylus niloticus" (the Nile crocodile). This is a stem-based definition, and is the sister taxon to Crocodylinae. Osteolaeminae contains the two extant genera "Osteolaemus" and "Mecistops", along with several extinct genera, although the number of  extant species within Osteolaeminae is currently in question. Phylogeny. The cladogram below is based on two studies that combined morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data. Alternatively, other morphological studies have recovered "Mecistops" as a basal member of Crocodylinae, more closely related to "Crocodylus" than to "Osteolaemus" and the other members of Osteolaeminae, as shown in the cladogram below.