New Guinea crocodile

The New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus novaeguineae) is a small species of crocodile found on the island of New Guinea north of the mountain ridge that runs along the centre of the island. The population found south of the mountain ridge, formerly considered a genetically distinct population, is now considered a distinct species, Hall's New Guinea crocodile (C. halli). In the past it included the Philippine crocodile, C. n. mindorensis, as a subspecies, but today they are regarded as separate species. The habitat of the New Guinea crocodile is mostly freshwater swamps and lakes. It is most active at night when it feeds on fish and a range of other small animals. A female crocodile lays a clutch of eggs in a nest composed of vegetation and she lies up nearby to guard the nest. There is some degree of parental care for newly hatched juveniles. This crocodile was over-hunted for its valuable skin in the mid 20th century, but conservation measures have since been put in place, it is reared in ranches and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it as being of "Least Concern". The New Guinea crocodile was first described by the American herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt in 1928 as Crocodylus novaeguineae. At one time it was thought that there were two subspecies, C. n. novaeguineae, the New Guinea crocodile native to Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea, and C. n. mindorensis, the Philippine crocodile, native to several islands including Busuanga, Luzon, Masbate, Mindoro, Negros, Samar and Mindanao. Most authorities now consider that the Philippine crocodile is an entirely separate species. DNA sequencing data reported in 2011 showed that the Philippine crocodile is, in part, paraphyletic with regard to the New Guinea crocodile, and that the latter may constitutes a population within the Philippine crocodile. Among their two samples for the New Guinea crocodile, one was part of the Philippine crocodile clade and the other was separate, estimated to have diverged 2.6–6.8 million years ago.