New Guinea crocodile
| New Guinea crocodile | ||||||||||||
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New Guinea crocodile ( Crocodylus novaeguineae ) |
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| Crocodylus novaeguineae | ||||||||||||
| Schmidt , 1928 |
The New Guinea crocodile ( Crocodylus novaeguineae ) is a species of the real crocodiles (Crocodylidae).
features
The New Guinea crocodile is very similar to the closely related Australian crocodile ( Crocodylus johnsoni ) and, like this, has a pointed snout, which is, however, slightly less long and less pointed. The body is brown, orange in color, with the tail being drawn with dark brown to black stripes. It grows up to 3 meters long and is one of the smaller species.
distribution
The New Guinea crocodile only lives in New Guinea , where it occurs in western New Guinea and northern Papua New Guinea . It mainly inhabits the fresh waters of the island, i.e. the rivers, lakes and swamps inland. It is also rarely found in brackish water , where the saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus ) tends to reside.
Way of life
The New Guinea crocodile is not very specialized in its diet and eats what it can catch. A spectrum of prey was determined in stomach analyzes, which ranges from insects to amphibians , snakes and fish to water birds and small mammals .
During the breeding season, a mound nest is built from plant materials in which the eggs are laid. The eggs are laid at the end of the dry season from July to November . A clutch consists of 35 eggs on average, each weighing 73 g. The hill nest is guarded and the hatched young animals are supported by the female when opening the nests and then transported into the water.
Systematics
In 2019, the population south of the central highlands of Papua New Guinea was split off from the New Guinea crocodile on the basis of morphological differences and described as a new species, Crocodylus halli .
literature
- Charles A. Ross (Ed.): Crocodiles and Alligators - Evolution, Biology and Distribution. Orbis Verlag Niedernhausen 2002
- Joachim Brock: Crocodiles - A life with armored lizards. Natur und Tier Verlag Münster 1998
Web links
- Crocodylus novaeguineae in The Reptile Database
- Crocodylus novaeguineae in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Listed by: Crocodile Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Christopher M. Murray, Peter Russo, Alexander Zorrilla, Caleb D. McMahan: Divergent Morphology among Populations of the New Guinea Crocodile, Crocodylus novaeguineae (Schmidt, 1928): Diagnosis of an Independent Lineage and Description of a New Species Copeia , 107 (3), 2019, pp. 517-523 doi : 10.1643 / CG-19-240