Systematic revision of the living African Slender-snouted Crocodiles (Mecistops Gray, 1844)

FIGURE 1. Map showing the distribution of Mecistops and its two content species: M. cataphractus and M. leptorhynchus.

FIGURE 2. MCZ R-22483, neotype, Mecistops cataphractus. Photographic series showing dorsal, ventral, and lateral views of the skull, and overview of the mandibles. Photo credit: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, ©President and Fellows of Harvard College.

FIGURE 3. Squamosal boss or crest of Mecistops cataphractus (a) and its absence in M. leptorhynchus (b).

FIGURE 4. Typical nuchal scutellation in adult Mecistops cataphractus (a) and M. leptorhynchus (b). Note also the modest squamosal boss in M. cataphractus, which is absent in M. leptorhynchus.

FIGURE 5. Typical flank scalation in adult Mecistops cataphractus (a) and M. leptorhynchus (b).

FIGURE 6. Photographic series of M. cataphractus illustrating variation seen in the color and pattern throughout this species distribution. Left to right, top to bottom: dark colored juvenile showing burnt orange eye coloration from captive collection, USA (1-1); adult showing unpatterned, tan coloration of the Upper Guinea populations and illustrating very clearly the squamosal bosses typical of M. cataphractus from the Abidjan National Zoo, Côte d’Ivoire (1-2); highly blotched individual with the green/olive coloration from Silver Springs, Florida (1-3); highly blotched and banded adult with dark gold coloration from Silver Springs, Florida (2-1); a similarly patterned juvenile wild caught in Côte d’Ivoire formerly held at the Dipi Crocodile Farm (2-2); representative ventral coloration and pattern, most individual M. cataphractus show some level of dark blotching, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida (2-3); melanistic individual wild caught in the Abi Lagoon, Côte d’Ivoire but captive held at the Parc Zoologique d’Assinie (3-1); yellow/gold colored individual illustrating the reduced jaw spotting of some individuals found in the Upper Guinea forests of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (3-2); dull/dark colored yearling, Subin River, Ghana (3-3); typically colored and patterned animals from the Senegambia area illustrating the dark gold background color and heavy black blotching, jaw spots, and overall dark patterning from the Gambia River, River Gambia National Park, The Gambia (row 4).