II B RARY OF THE UNIVERSITY or ILLINOIS 59O.S FI fflffl V Return this book on OR Before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. University of Illinois Library I M32 F I MAY 3 1 1! ZOOLOGICAL SERIESjjNiVERSITY OF ILL1NOI! OF FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume XX CHICAGO, MAY 15, 1935 No. 8 A NEW CROCODILE FROM THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS BY KARL P. SCHMIDT ASSISTANT CURATOR OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES The salt-water crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, which is wide- spread in the East Indies, is the common crocodile of the Philippine Islands, ranging throughout the archipelago. Very large specimens occur, and the largest skull on record, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, was traced to its source in Luzon by Barbour (1924, p. 16). Two large skulls in Field Museum, collected in Lake Naujan, Mindoro Island, in 1891, by D. C. Worcester and F. S. Bourns for the Menage Expedition, unquestionably represent the species porosus. These attracted my interest and were cleaned and examined critically in drawing up the description of Crocodylus novae-guineae in 1928. During a short stay in the Philippines en route home from the Crane Pacific Expedition of Field Museum, in 1929, I obtained a small crocodile of the species porosus at Zamboanga, Mindanao. During this expedition, a series of skulls of both porosus and novae-guineae was obtained in New Guinea, and my interest in these species renewed. On arriving in Manila, accompanied by Mr. Walter A. Weber, artist of the expedition, we were most cordially received by Mr. W. H. Brown, Director of the Bureau of Science, and Mr. H. R. Montalban, of the Division of Fisheries. Through the interest of these gentlemen, three small crocodiles, presumably also from the vicinity of Lake Naujan, were obtained for us from the island of Mindoro and presented to Field Museum. These specimens were unfortunately long delayed in transit, so that they reached Chicago as dried mummies. Greatly to my surprise, these Mindoro specimens proved to be entirely distinct from the species already at hand from Lake Naujan, and to be e'qually different from Crocodylus palustris, recorded from Borneo and Palawan, as well as from C. siamensis of southeastern Asia. Further examination of this material was postponed in the hope that additional specimens might be obtained. In examining some uncleaned crocodile heads (without data) stored in Field No. 337 67 68 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX Museum, I find one which exhibits the six postoccipital scutes of the Mindoro form, and on preparation of this skull it proves to agree so minutely with the three smaller skulls cleaned up from the dried specimens that there can be no doubt that it is also from the Philippines, received either with the Menage Expedition collec- tions, or from Dr. J. B. Steere, who is also known to have collected on Mindoro. The examination of the four specimens available convinces me that the species is certainly distinct and undescribed, and I feel that its publication will call attention to its existence and promote further collecting. It may be named : Crocodylus mindorensis sp. nov. Type from the island of Mindoro, Philippine Islands. No. 11135 Field Museum of Natural History. Received in 1929 from the Philippine Bureau of Science. Mummified body and cleaned skull. Diagnosis. — Allied more closely to Crocodylus novae-guineae than to any other species, agreeing with it in the characters which distin- guish it from C. porosus; namely, presence of occipital scutes, more incised webs on hind feet, enlarged pectoral plates, scutes of dorsal shield in contact laterally, inferior opening of internal nares, and uninflated palatines. Distinguished from novae-guineae by its proportionately broader and heavier skull, larger eustachian tube, palatines less parallel-sided, heavier pitting of skull and more pro- nounced antorbital ridges. Description of type. — Dorsal shield consisting of 17 transverse rows of scutes, composed of 8 scutes each at mid-body, the bony scutes in contact; postoccipitals 6; nuchals 4-2-2; web" of hind toes strongly incised; a row of enlarged pectoral scutes, behind which there are 25 transverse rows of ventral plates to the anterior border of the anus; 18 segments of the tail with a double crest, followed by 18 single-crested segments. Skull of intermediate type, neither extremely broad nor elongated. Snout distinctly broader than in either porosus or novae-guineae. Antorbital ridge high and abrupt laterally as compared with novae-guineae, failing to continue on the naso-maxillary suture as it does in porosus. Pitting of the dorsal surface much deeper and coarser than in skulls of the same size of either novae-guineae or porosus. Premaxillary teeth 5; festooning of maxillary teeth pronounced, more so than in the allied species; opening of internal nares down- wardly directed; eustachian opening of skull larger than in novae- guineae, about as in porosus; form of cranial table intermediate between that of porosus and novae-guineae; posterior border of frontal FIT ao 1935 A NEW CROCODILE— SCHMIDT 69 transverse without projecting angle; width of parietal between the supra temporal fenestrae distinctly narrower than in novae-guineae; FIG. 3. Palatal views of skulls of Mindoro crocodiles. No. 10866, Crocodylus porosus, Lake Naujan, Mi in lorn Island, x J. No. 11135, Crocodylus mindorensis sp. nov., Mindoro Island. Type, x J. palatines of the normal crocodilian type, not at all inflated at their union with the pterygoids, conspicuously different in shape from the same bones in novae-guineae. MEASUREMENTS OF THE SKULL (In millimeters) Field Mus. Field Mus. Field Mus. Field Mus. No. 11135 (Type) No. 11136 No. 11137 No. 19891 Length to occipital 158.0 150.5 200.4 241.0 Length of snout 96.3 90.8 127.5 155.0 Width of quadratojugals 78.5 75.6 92.8 127.0 Width of snout 56.0 55.5 73.4 89.5 Width at tenth tooth 42.5 43.5 51.0 64.5 Notes on paratypes. — The three paratypes are in extremely close agreement with the type in all the diagnostic characters. No. 11137 has the snout constricted at about the twelfth tooth, apparently an abnormality. The festooning of the teeth and heavier pitting of the skulls suggest that the species is small. The largest skull (without data) would correspond with a crocodile of about 1.7 meters in length , ,0is 70 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX (less than 6 feet). The correspondence of this skull, No. 19891, even in minor details, with the three subsequently received from Mindoro is extraordinary. Remarks. — The new Philippine species is quite obviously to be interpreted as a fresh-water species, and where porosus enters inland lakes it is doubtless found in marshes and smaller bodies of water. Malcolm Smith (1919, p. 218; 1931, p. 42), in distinguishing C. siamensis from C. porosus calls attention to the juxtaposed elements of the dorsal shield, the enlarged pectoral plates, and the more incised webs of siamensis. Crocodylus mindorensis and novae-guineae agree with siamensis in these respects. The skull of mindorensis is much more slender and lighter in construction than that of palustris. It differs from siamensis in the narrow interorbital space, the five premaxillary teeth, the absence of a median ridge on the frontal, and the more posterior position of the enlarged fifth maxillary teeth. The new form does, however, form a link in the chain of species of fresh-water crocodiles with mutually exclusive ranges — palustris in India, siamensis in southeastern Asia, mindorensis in Mindoro, novae-guineae in New Guinea, and johnstoni in Queensland. I suspect that C. biporcatus raninus of Miiller and Schlegel may be the Bornean representative of this fresh-water series, and it is reason- able to suspect another undescribed species in the ancient lakes of Celebes. Field observation of the habitat relations of Crocodylus mindorensis with C. porosus affords an interesting problem for any naturalist visiting the Philippines. I have followed Stejneger (1933, p. 117) in retaining Laurenti's generic name Crocodylus in the long customary sense. REFERENCES BARBOUR, THOMAS 1924. An Historic Crocodile Skull. Copeia, 1924, p. 16. SCHMIDT, KARL P. 1932. Notes on New Guinean Crocodiles. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 18, pp. 165-172. SMITH, MALCOLM A. 1919. Crocodilus siamensis. Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 3, pp. 217-221, pis. 4-5. 1931. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. I — Loricata, Testudines (Fauna of British India). Taylor and Francis, London, 8vo, xxvin + 185 pp., 41 text figs., 2 pis. STEJNEGER, LEONHARD 1933. Crocodilian Nomenclature. Copeia, 1933, pp. 117-120. WORCESTER, DEAN C. 1898. The Philippine Islands and Their People. Macmillan Co., New York, 8vo, XX +529 pp., illus. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA