slender-snouted crocodiles

Mecistops is a genus of crocodiles, the slender-snouted crocodiles, native to sub-Saharan Africa.

==Taxonomy and etymology== Traditionally placed in Crocodylus, recent studies in DNA and morphology have shown that it is in fact basal to Crocodylus, thus was moved its own genus. This genus itself was long considered to contain only one species, M. cataphractus, but recent genetic analysis has revealed the existence of two species: the West African slender-snouted crocodile (M. cataphractus) and the Central African slender-snouted crocodile (M. leptorhynchus). Both species diverged during the Miocene (about 6.5–7.5 million years ago) and are separated by the Cameroon Volcanic Line.