St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park St Augustine Alligator Farm

On August 15th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) eastern indigo snake hatched, which is the first time the species has been successfully bred at the facility.

BIG and... - St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

On August 16th, the zoo announced that (0.0.5) Bornean crested fireback pheasants hatched.

We're... - St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

On August 23rd, the zoo announced that they acquired a (0.0.1) American alligator and (0.0.3) caimans (species not specified) from the now-closed Mayagüez Zoo in Puerto Rico.

Thank you... - St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

Smaggledagle said:
On March 28th, it was announced that the zoo transferred (1.1) American (albino) alligators to the Denver Zoo in Colorado.

Denver Zoo
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On September 16th, it was announced that the zoo reacquired the alligators.

Denver Zoo - The time has come to say see ya later to...

On September 23rd, it was announced that the zoo acquired (0.0.2) saltwater crocodiles from Clyde Peeling's Reptiland in Pennsylvania. It was also announced that the zoo transferred (0.0.3) Nile crocodiles to Reptiland.

We would like to officially welcome Reptiland’s newest residents, three baby Nile crocodiles! Hatched at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park... | By Clyde Peeling's Reptiland | Facebook
 
Two new hatchlings have been announced, Giant Asian Pond Turtle(Orlita borneensis) and Southeast Asian box turtle(Cuora amboinensis)

TWO hatchling alerts: Critically Endangered Malaysian Giant Turtle and the Endangered Southeast Asia Box turtles. These turtles need help: habitat destruction and overharvesting for human consumption, pet trade, traditional medicine, and poaching. How to get involved: spread the word, support turtle conservation programs, and use your consumer voice to make a change for the survival of these turtles. Malaysian Giant turtle or Borneo River turtle, Orlitia Borneensis Southeast Asian Box Turtle, Cuora amboinensis #worldturtleday #turtles #savingspecies #wildlifeconservation #staugustinealligatorfarm #staugustine | St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park | Benson Boone · Beautiful Things
 
the zoo announced the first captive hatching in the US of the newly described species of Dwarf Croc (Osteolaemus afzelii). the parents of the babies were confirmed to be pure members of this new species via DNA testing. They mark the 18th species of crocodilian bred at the park.

St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

* I'm personally struggling to find any info about this new species online. Most sources just list O. tetraspis and O. osborni
 
King of Komodo Dragons said:
the zoo announced the first captive hatching in the US of the newly described species of Dwarf Croc (Osteolaemus afzelii). the parents of the babies were confirmed to be pure members of this new species via DNA testing. They mark the 18th species of crocodilian bred at the park.

St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park

* I'm personally struggling to find any info about this new species online. Most sources just list O. tetraspis and O. osborni
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It's not a valid taxonomic name, that's why :rolleyes::D as far as I can tell, it's a name which the notorious taxonomic vandal Raymond Hoser used within a single cladogram in reference to the as-yet-undescribed West African species complex of Osteolaemus (which last I heard probably represents two distinct taxa, currently referred to as West Africa 1 and West Africa 2 by those researchers attempting to work out which taxa are held in captivity). As Hoser never actually published a description for the species, and it refers to multiple taxa, the name has even less validity than the myriad others he has coined.

Were I to guess, St Augustine has come across the name somewhere online and assumed its the official name for whichever of the West African Dwarf they hold.
 
I new confirmed study is coming out shortly. SAAF is sending out all confirmed hybrids and single O. osborni to stick with pure tetrapis and afzelli. The study is through UF which also confirmed western croc and further confirming the Cataphractus species. Once the African species are genomed they will be moving onto C. acutus to see if the there is different speciation between the Northern and Southern populations, specifically the Jamaican population. C. porosus is also on the agenda
 
PSO said:
I new confirmed study is coming out shortly. SAAF is sending out all confirmed hybrids and single O. osborni to stick with pure tetrapis and afzelli. The study is through UF which also confirmed western croc and further confirming the Cataphractus species. Once the African species are genomed they will be moving onto C. acutus to see if the there is different speciation between the Northern and Southern populations, specifically the Jamaican population. C. porosus is also on the agenda
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I know the AZA and various crocodile specialist groupings have worked hard to elucidate the status of the 2 different West African taxa. I would assume that O. afzelii may enter the history books upon description of the taxon.

I have great faith in the experts at SAAF and the IUCN Croc Specialist Groups to determine the diversity within the Ostealaemus and Cataphractus complexes and will very shortly attempt their scientific description.

Please take note that the recent separation of New Guinea (or prefererred by my persona to rename these Papua) crocodiles into Crocodylus novaeguineae and Crocodylus halli (in which SAAF played a great role along with experts at th Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago). I expect similar will happen with the African crocodiles....!


PSO said:
I new confirmed study is coming out shortly. SAAF is sending out all confirmed hybrids and single O. osborni to stick with pure tetrapis and afzelli. The study is through UF which also confirmed western croc and further confirming the Cataphractus species. Once the African species are genomed they will be moving onto C. acutus to see if the there is different speciation between the Northern and Southern populations, specifically the Jamaican population. C. porosus is also on the agenda
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I am glad that SAAF is taking a major step in sorting their Osteolaemus and will in future focus solelty on pure-bred O. tetraspis and O. species novum (West Africa - afzelii of which they hold a pair)! Hopefully, other zoos will follow.

I wonder where they shipped off their hybrids and to which zoo or facility they will send the single O. osborni (known if it is male or female?).

AD FINITUM: Is it known how many O. terraspis they maintain (sex, age, breeding prospects)?
 
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TeaLovingDave said:
It's not a valid taxonomic name, that's why :rolleyes::D as far as I can tell, it's a name which the notorious taxonomic vandal Raymond Hoser used within a single cladogram in reference to the as-yet-undescribed West African species complex of Osteolaemus (which last I heard probably represents two distinct taxa, currently referred to as West Africa 1 and West Africa 2 by those researchers attempting to work out which taxa are held in captivity). As Hoser never actually published a description for the species, and it refers to multiple taxa, the name has even less validity than the myriad others he has coined.

Were I to guess, St Augustine has come across the name somewhere online and assumed its the official name for whichever of the West African Dwarf they hold.
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afzelii is a valid name, although treated as a synonym of tetraspis. It was originally used in 1867 (as Halcrosia afzelii) to describe a partial specimen from Sierra Leone deposited in a Swedish museum. Presumably this is the oldest available name for one of the new species within the complex - although, if so, there doesn't appear to actually have been any paper published yet so the Alligator Farm's "newly described species" is an inaccurate turn of phrase.
 
Chlidonias said:
Presumably this is the oldest available name for one of the new species within the complex - although, if so, there doesn't appear to actually have been any paper published yet so the Alligator Farm's "newly described species" is an inaccurate turn of phrase.
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Which would make my latter presumption correct:

Were I to guess, St Augustine has come across the name somewhere online and assumed its the official name for whichever of the West African Dwarf they hold.

...given the fact that as far as I know, no one has yet determined what the range boundaries of the complex species are, and as such which one/s occur in Sierra Leone.

One hopes they're not merely treating all members of the complex as a single species, and they actually do have a pure pairing. I may have to track down photos of the adults and ask around with those better informed than I about the differences between the proposed taxa.
 
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