Talk:American Crocodile

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Not sure whether this is a useful redirect or not. At present it results in a loop from crocodile back to itself. I don't want to remove that link, as we do hope to someday have articles on all the living species. Difficult. Andrewa 15:17, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Only New World Species?

The article says that this is the only crocodile in the new world, but the article on crocodiles in general lists the Orinoco and Cuban crocodiles, both also in the new world. Surely this must be wrong? (Lars Marius Garshol, 2006-03-06)

The article's wrong. There are 4 recognized species in the Americas:

 1) American Crocodile (C. acutus)
 2) Morlett's Crocodile (C. morletti)
 3) Cuban Crocodile (C. rhombifer)
 4) Orinoco Crocodile (C. intermedius)
C. acutus is the only species found naturally in the U.S.A.

(sorry, but I accidentally deleted someone else's incomplete entry when I edited mine and I don't know how to reinstate it.) CFLeon 03:12, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Corrected. Tjunier 09:41, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

The article is not "wrong" - it has a source, which is more than can be said for the assertion above. Why is there a problem recognising that there are different views on the taxonomy, and reflecting this instead of just reverting my edits? jimfbleak 11:54, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

You stated AS FACT there was only one species in the New World- when every other public source in the last several decades claims there's four; there was no mention of ANY controversy. The edit mentions only the Cuban Crocodile as a subspecies, which even the source cited gives it full species rank; and nothing was/is said about C. Morletti or C. intermedius. If you are going to 'go against the grain', at least say that you are doing so- or that "new research has shown that contrary to previous belief ...'. I'm not as up on the current DNA or immunulogical research as I used to be, but The Crocodilian Page (www.crocodilian.com) is probably THE major source on the web and they avocate 4 species; the article doesn't even mention them for a link. CFLeon 20:55, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

CFLeon is correct. the New World is home to not only the American croc, but also the Orinoco Crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius), the Morelet's Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii), and the Cuban Crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer). Saying there is only one species in the New World is absolutely wrong. Furthermore, I know of no herpetology source that views the Cuban Croc as a subspecies of the American Croc, nor have I ever seen it mentioned. Infact, the 2 species live together in Cuba, as is stated in the very link on this article. The two are clearly seperate species. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/csl.html MFuture 19:52, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I've changed it to be reflective of the actual opinion of real-life herpetologists. As an aside, does anyone know the current population in Florida? I think it would be pertinent to post in the article. CFLeon 20:36, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Once again, I would have respect for an actual 'controversy' where the scientific opinion differs. This is not a 'controversy', it's a statement which goes against every other public source in the past 80 or so years, and not even saying there's a 'controversy' or giving THEIR source; and the source that they DO give, backs up the established version. Since the administrator is an ornithologist, he probably thinks that there actually is a real difference of mainstream scientific opinion. Uh-uh, nope, no way, Jose. Once again, check out the main source on the web: Crocodilian Online http://www.crocodilian.com/ They list 4 species of Crocodylus in the New World (as given twice above), and there is NO MENTION of ANY current thought to the contrary. No other book available in the US in the last 60 or so years (since before Ditmars in the '40s) even hints at the single species idea. The one source that be found other than this page is a single German reference pertaining to the Cuban Crocdile ONLY. Someone inventing a statement does not a reputable scientific 'controversy' make. CFLeon 21:26, 13 April 2006 (UTC)