Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope 1861
Authors/Creators
- 1. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Asociado, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal; & BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal;
- 2. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Asociado, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal; & BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal; & Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany; & TwinLab CIBIO / ISCED, Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla, Lubango, Angola;
- 3. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;
- 4. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; & Enviro-Insight, Pretoria, South Africa;
- 5. Department of Natural History, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, Canada; & Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States;
- 6. Port Elizabeth Museum, Gqeberha, South Africa; & School of Natural Resource Management, Nelson Mandela University, George, South Africa;
- 7. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Asociado, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal; & BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal; & TwinLab CIBIO / ISCED, Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla, Lubango, Angola; & Fundação Kissama, Luanda, Angola.
Description
Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope, 1861
Figure 8B
Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Mayombe NP, Vaku; –4.6323, 12.8937; 319 m a.s.l.; (P2.064) • Dinge; –4.6323, 12.8937; 319 m a.s.l.; EI 810; EI 812; GenBank: PQ456007–08 (street market).
Identification. A small crocodile (max. SVL = ∼ 2 m) with black dorsum and yellowish patches on tail and jaw (Waitkuwait 1986), three transverse series of nuchal scales, and snout as long as wide at the base. Genetically, it differs by ∼3.6% from material collected from Ogooue Basin, Gabon (GenBank: MN885919).
Biology and distribution. Osteolaemus tetraspis is a widely distributed rainforest species in West Africa,from Senegal to Cabinda Province (Waitkuwait 1986). It is associated with ponds, swampy areas or water pools, frequently far away from main rivers or open waters (Waitkuwait 1986). The photographed specimen was found in a small rain pool under shade in the primary rainforest in Upper Mayombe. Samples from this study were obtained from specimens found in street markets in the Littoral Peneplain, being sold as bushmeat.
Squamata
Chamaeleonidae
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Scientific name authorship
- Cope
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Order
- Eusuchia
- Family
- Crocodylidae
- Genus
- Osteolaemus
- Species
- tetraspis
- Taxon rank
- species
- Taxonomic concept label
- Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope, 1861 sec. Lobón-Rovira, Lobón-Rovira, Baptista, Clark, Verburgt, Jongsma, Conradie, and, Vaz & Pinto, 2025
References
- Waitkuwait WE. 1986. Present knowledge on the West African slender-snouted crocodile, Crocodylus cataphractus Cuvier 1824 and the West African dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis, Cope 1861. Crocodiles. In: UICN (eds.) Their ecology, management, and conservation. Gland: UICN Press, 260-275. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853885X00371