Crocodilurus amazonicus

Pertinent taxonomic references. Spix (1825), Boie (1826), Duméril & Bibron (1839), Boulenger (1885), Hoogmoed & Gruber (1983), Ávila-Pires (1995), Massary & Hoogmoed (2001), Evers & Soares (2007), Harvey et al. (2012).

Distribution and habitat. Crocodilurus amazonicus is endemic to Amazonia, distributed along the Amazon River and some of its main tributaries, especially the western ones and the lower part of the northern ones; it reaches the upper Orinoco basin, in Venezuela, and the coastal area in Brazil, and apparently is rare or absent along the Tapajós, Xingu, and Tocantins rivers (Fig. 7). We examined material from Brazil and Venezuela (Fig. 7). Ávila- Pires (1995) also recorded it in French Guiana, Colombia, and Peru. In Brazil it is known from the states of Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, Roraima, and Rondônia. Crocodilurus amazonicus is semiaquatic and diurnal, inhabits margins of rivers and lakes in forests and inundated savannas, where it is found swimming, on sandy open soil and among roots in beaches, on branches overhanging water, and on logs in the water, up to about 1.5 meters high (Cunha 1961; Crump 1971; Hoogmoed & Lescure 1975; Pires & Prance 1985; Ávila-Pires 1995; Mesquita et al. 2006 b; Vitt et al. 2008; Waldez et al. 2013).