A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Mugger crocodile Temporal range: Late Pleistocene–Present,
| |
---|---|
![]() | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Crocodilia |
Family: | Crocodylidae |
Genus: | Crocodylus |
Species: | C. palustris
|
Binomial name | |
Crocodylus palustris | |
![]() | |
Distribution of mugger crocodile | |
Synonyms[3] | |
|
The mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) is a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshes, lakes, rivers and artificial ponds. It rarely reaches a body length of 5 m (16 ft 5 in) and is a powerful swimmer, but also walks on land in search of suitable waterbodies during the hot season. Both young and adult mugger crocodiles dig burrows to which they retreat when the ambient temperature drops below 5 °C (41 °F) or exceeds 38 °C (100 °F). Females dig holes in the sand as nesting sites and lay up to 46 eggs during the dry season. The sex of hatchlings depends on temperature during incubation. Both parents protect the young for up to one year. They feed on insects, and adults prey on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.
The mugger crocodile evolved at least 4.19 million years ago and has been a symbol for the fructifying and destructive powers of the rivers since the Vedic period. It was first scientifically described in 1831 and is protected by law in Iran, India and Sri Lanka. Since 1982, it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Outside protected areas, it is threatened by conversion of natural habitats, gets entangled in fishing nets and is killed in human–wildlife conflict situations and in traffic accidents.
Taxonomy and evolution
Crocodilus palustris was the scientific name proposed by René Lesson in 1831 who described the type specimen from the Gangetic plains.[4] In subsequent years, several naturalists and curators of natural history museums described zoological specimens and proposed different names, including:
- C. bombifrons by John Edward Gray in 1844 for a specimen sent by the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal to the British Museum of Natural History.[5]
- C. trigonops also by Gray in 1844 for a young mugger specimen from India.[5]
Evolution
Phylogenetic analysis of 23 crocodilian species indicated that the genus Crocodylus most likely originated in Australasia about 13.72 to 8.28 million years ago. The freshwater crocodile (C. johnstoni) is thought to have been the first species that genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the genus about 12.45 to 7.17 million years ago. The sister group comprising saltwater crocodile (C. porosus), Siamese crocodile (C. siamensis) and mugger crocodile diverged about 11.65 to 6.52 million years ago. The latter diverged from this group about 8.91 to 4.19 million years ago.[6] A paleogenomics analysis indicated that Crocodylus likely originated in Africa and radiated towards Southeast Asia and the Americas, diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct Voay of Madagascar, around 25 million years ago near the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.[7] Within Crocodylus, the mugger crocodile's closest living relatives are the Siamese crocodile and the saltwater crocodile.[8][9][10][7]
Fossil crocodile specimens excavated in the Sivalik Hills closely resemble the mugger crocodile in the shortness of the premaxillae and in the form of the nasal openings.[11][12] In Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district, a 30.6 cm (12.0 in) long fossilized skull of a mugger crocodile was found in a volcanic ash bed that probably dates to the late Pleistocene.[13] Crocodylus palaeindicus from late Pliocene sediments in the Sivalik Hills is thought to be an ancestor of the mugger crocodile.[14] Fossil remains of C. palaeindicus were also excavated in the vicinity of Bagan in central Myanmar.[15]
analysis of 12 concatenated mitochondrial DNA sequences[6][16] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
based on Illumina sequencing of mitogenomes[17] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Below cladogram is from a tip dating study, for which morphological, molecular DNA sequencing and stratigraphic fossil age data were simultaneously used to establish the inter-relationships within Crocodylidae.[10] This cladogram was revised in a paleogenomics study.[7]
Crocodylidae |
|