Dwarf crocodiles split into thr... ( You'd think that if scientists were ...)

Dwarf crocodiles split into three species

Date:12/12/2008

You'd think that if scientists were to discover a new species, it would be in some remote, uncharted tropical forest, not a laboratory in New York. But a team from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History has done the unexpected. Looking at the genes of the African dwarf crocodile, researchers found that the groupgenetically speakingcomprises three distinct species rather than one. This not only ends a long debate about the taxonomy of this group, previously thought to consist of two closely related subspecies, but also defines a new, distinct species from genetic samples.

"In the past, the two morphologically distinct crocodile populations were believed to be different genera, then later different species, and then finally different subspecies," explains first-author Mitchell Eaton. Eaton conducted the research at the Sackler Institute and is finishing his doctoral degree at the University of Colorado. "We collected samples in Africa to explore this taxonomic question, and we found a great deal of evolutionary divergence between populations in the Congo Basin and on the west coast of Central Africa. We alsoquite unexpectedlyfound a completely new species from far West Africa; there may be even more species that we haven't sampled yet!"

African dwarf crocodiles, genus Osteolaemus, live in the tropical forests of Central and West Africa. Adults typically grow to no more than 5 feet in length and are the smallest living members of the crocodilian family. The three groups identified in this current research include a species from the Congo Basin (O. osborni), another from Central Africa's Ogoou Basin (O. tetraspis), and the new, yet unnamed species from West Africa. All of these crocodiles look very similar, and all are widely hunted by local people as a source of food. In fact, these animals provide up to a quarter of the non-fish bush meat consumed in some areas of Centra
'/>"/>

Contact: Kristin Elise Phillips
kphillips@amnh.org
212-496-3419
American Museum of Natural History
Source:Eurekalert

3

GOOD

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Dwarf cloud rat rediscovered after 112 years
2. Saltwater crocodiles can find their way home
3. Three-way mating game of North American lizard found in distant European relative
4. Columbia to award 2007 Horwitz Prize to three generations of teacher-student scientists
5. Stevens researchers provide oversight for three-year mariculture program in Egypt and Israel
6. Three Dimensional Visualization of Right Ventricle Provides Important Information for Treatment of Patients with Tetralogy of Fallot, According to a Study in The American Journal of Cardiology
7. Researchers document rapid, dramatic reverse evolution in the threespine stickleback fish
8. Scientists integrate data in three dimensions to study climate effects on young fish
9. Wetlands expert: China should think outside the flooding box with Three Gorges Dam
10. New continent and species discovered in Atlantic study
11. Emphasis on conifer forests places multiple species at risk

Post Your Comments:

Dwarf crocodiles split into thr...( You'd think that if scientists were ...)