Central African slender-snouted crocodile
| Central African slender-snouted crocodile | |
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NE
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| Species: | M. leptorhynchus
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| Mecistops leptorhynchus | |
The Central African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops leptorhynchus) is one of two species of crocodiles in the genus Mecistops. It was once thought to be a population of the West African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus) but was elevated to a species after two detailed studies, one in 2014 and the other in 2018.[2][3]
The species was described in 1835 on the basis of a specimen that had died at the London zoo and had been claimed to have been collected in the Fernando Po.[2] Studies of specimens and their molecular sequences established that there were two different species which occurred in distinct hydrological zones. M. leptorhynchus is easily differentiated morphologically from M. cataphractus by the absence of a round tubercle or boss on the squamosal scale at the back of the head in the former and present in the latter.[3]
Etymology
The genus name Mecistops is most probably derived from the Ancient Greek words μήκιστ (mēkist) meaning "longest" and ὄψις (ópsis) meaning "aspect" or "appearance". The species name leptorhynchus is derived from the Ancient Greek words λεπτός (leptós) meaning "slender" and ῥύγχος (rhýnchos) meaning "snout". Bennett (1835) may have named the species so because he found it had a longer head width:head length ratio than M. cataphractos, 3:1 versus 2.5:1. Although an analysis of 93 skulls, belonging mainly to mature individuals, by Shirley et al. (2018) found a head width:head length ratio of 2.25:1 for M. cataphractos and 2.37:1 for M. leptorhynchos.[3]
References
- ^ Bennett, E.T. (1835). "Character of a New Species of Crocodile (Crocodilus leptorhynchus)". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 128–132.
- ^ a b Shirley, Matthew H.; Vliet, Kent A.; Carr, Amanda N.; Austin, James D. (7 February 2014). "Rigorous approaches to species delimitation have significant implications for African crocodilian systematics and conservation". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 281 (1776). doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2483. PMC 3871313.
- ^ a b c Shirley, Matthew H.; Carr, Amanda N.; Nestler, Jennifer H.; Vliet, Kent A.; Brochu, Christopher A. (24 October 2018). "Systematic revision of the living African Slender-snouted Crocodiles ( Mecistops Gray, 1844)". Zootaxa. 4504 (2). ISSN 1175-5334.
