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Alligator sinensis FAUVEL, 1879

IUCN Red List - Alligator sinensis - Critically Endangered, CR
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Higher TaxaAlligatoridae, Crocodylia, crocodiles (alligators)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Chinese alligator, T'o, Yow Lung, Yangtze alligator
G: China-Alligator
Chinese: 扬子鳄 
SynonymAlligator sinensis FAUVEL 1879
Alligator sinensis — STEJNEGER 1926: 34
Caigator sinensis — DERANIYAGALA 1947
Alligator sinensis — WERMUTH & FUCHS 1979
Alligator sinensis — WU et al. 2001 
DistributionChina (areas around the lower Yangzi River in Jiangau, Zhejiang, Anhui)

Type locality: "Chinkiang" [=Zhenjiang], Kiangsu Province, People's Republic of China; reported as "Wuhu, Anhwei" Province, by Pope 1935, Nat. Hist. Cent. Asia, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 10:65.  
Reproductionoviparous. Exhibits temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Cornejo-Páramo et al. 2020 (and references therein). 
TypesSyntype: MNHN-RA 6494 (MNHN catalogue indicated syntype not holotype) 
Diagnosis 
Comment“There is confusion concerning the type locality. Fauvel 1879 based his description on 6 specimens: the first specimen (Fauvel 1879:28), from Wuhu, was dissected and later mounted for display at the Shanghai Museum. He then sought "... another specimen to be forwarded to Paris, in order to have the species named. This appeal was duly responded to on the 3rd of October last, when we received a second specimen from Chinkiang." Four additional specimens, were purchased in Shanghai (Fauvel 1879:29); two live specimens reputed to have been collected in Poyang Lake, Kiangsi Province, and two skins with skulls attached lacking exact provenience. Presumably the one shipped to Paris, clearly intended to be the holotype, was the specimen from Chinkiang (present English transliteration is Zhenjiang, Chinkjang, or Chenchiang). It arrived at the MNHN in good order (Fauvel 1879:36f). Because it possesses morphological characteristics superficially reminiscent of caimans, Deraniyagala 1947 placed the Chinese alligator in a new genus, Caigator. That placement has not been supported by any later author, since some of those characteristics are present in varying degrees in the American alligator” (after King & Burke 1989).

Genomics: this is one of the species selected by the Genome 10K consortium (G10K) for complete genome sequencing. 
EtymologyNamed after its occurrence in China. 
References
  • Barbour, Thomas 1922. Further remarks on the Chinese Alligator. Proc. New England zool. Club 8: 31-34 - get paper here
  • Berlig, K. 2008. Die sachgerechte Haltung gefährdeter Wildtiere durch Privatpersonen als aktiver Beitrag zur Arterhaltung am Beispiel des China-Alligators (Alligator sinensis). Elaphe 16 (1): 24-27
  • Chen, B. & Liang, B. 1992. Preliminary Research on the Function of the Eggshell in the Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis). Asiatic Herpetological Research 4: 132-136 - get paper here
  • Chu-chien, Huang 1982. The Ecology of the Chinese Alligator and Changes in its Geographical Distribution. In CROCODILES, Proceedings of the 5th Working Meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN and Natural Resources, 1980. IUCN PUBLICATION NEW SERIES: 54-62 [ISBN 2-8032-209-X]
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  • Deraniyagala 1947. Proc. Third Ann. Sessions Ceylon Assoc. Sci., Pt. 2:12
  • Fauvel, A. A. 1879. Alligators in China: Their History, Description and Identification. J. North-China Branch Royal Asiatic Society (Shanghai) , N.S. 13: 1-36 - get paper here
  • Fishman, H.K.; Mitra, J.; Dowling, H.G. 1968. The karyotype of the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis). Mammal. Chrom. Newsl. 9: 81-82
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