Details - The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) from late Quaternary underwater cave deposits in the Dominican Republic

The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) from late Quaternary underwater cave deposits in the Dominican Republic

Title

The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) from late Quaternary underwater cave deposits in the Dominican Republic

Title Variants

Alternative: Dominican Republic fossil Cuban crocodiles

By

Morgan, Gary S. , author

Albury, Nancy Ann, 1955- , author
Cooke, Siobhán B. , author
Lehman, Phillip. , author
Rímoli, Renato O. , author
Rosenberger, Alfred L. , author

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, [2018]

Notes

Caption title.

"December 21, 2018."

Local PDF available in high- and low-resolution versions.

Late Quaternary fossils representing a locally extinct population of the Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) are reported from two underwater caves in the Dominican Republic. A large fossil sample of C. rhombifer, from Oleg's Bat Cave near Bavaro in the southeastern Dominican Republic, consists of four nearly complete skulls, numerous isolated cranial elements and mandibles, and more than 100 postcranial bones representing most of the skeleton. These fossils were collected from a completely submerged portion of the cave at a depth of 11 m and about 100 m from the nearest entrance. A skull, mandibles, and two vertebrae of a Cuban crocodile were also found in a second cave called Ni-Rahu, northeast of Santo Domingo. We identify the fossil crocodile skulls from the Dominican Republic as Crocodylus rhombifer because they share the following characters with modern skulls of C. rhombifer from Cuba (as well as fossil skulls from Cuba, the Bahamas, and Cayman Islands): short, broad, and deep rostrum; large orbits; convex nasals along the midline (midrostral boss); prominent swelling on the lacrimals anterior and medial to the orbits; low but obvious ridges extending anteriorly from the lacrimals to the nasals and posteriorly from the lacrimals to the prefrontals and frontals, outlining a distinct diamond- or rhomboid-shaped structure; strongly concave interorbital region and cranial roof; high, narrow ridges on the internal margins of the orbits, extending from the prefrontals to the frontals and posteriorly to the postorbitals; prominent ridges along the lateral margins of the cranial roof on the postorbitals and squamosals, terminating as noticeable protuberances on the posterolateral corners of the squamosals; premaxillary/maxillary suture on the palate essentially horizontal or transverse to the long axis of the skull at the level of the first maxillary tooth; 13 teeth in the maxilla. Certain aspects of the ecology and anatomy of living Crocodylus rhombifer in Cuba,