The Nile crocodile is a truly iconic animal. Or, more accurately, two iconic animals. As I've just written over at Nature News:
The iconic Nile crocodile actually comprises two different species — and they are only distantly related. The large east African Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is in fact more closely related to four species of Caribbean crocodile than to its small west African neighbour, which has been named (Crocodylus suchus). Evon Hekkala of Fordham University in New York and her colleagues revealed evidence for the existence of the second species by sequencing the genes of 123 living Nile crocodiles and 57 museum specimens, including several 2,000-year-old crocodile mummies. The results resolve a centuries-old debate about the classification of the Nile crocodile, and have important implications for the conservation of both species.
I love this story. Genetic studies have revealed many "cryptic species" hidden in plain sight among fairly well ...
