Size structure and sex ratio of dwarf caiman in the Serra Amolar, Pantanal, Brazil.

• Autor(a) principal: CAMPOS, Z. M. da S.
• Data de Publicação: 1995
• Outros Autores: COUTINHO, M. E., ABERCROMBIE, C.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
• Texto Completo: http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/799667
• topic: Estrutura; P; palpebrosus; Structure; Sex; Jacaré; Sexo; Caiman

Paleosuchus palpebrosus is one of five caiman species that occur in Brazil. With a maximum length of about 1.6 m (Medem, 1981), it is among the smallest crocodilians in the world. P. palpebrosus has a highly ossified skin and, although some illegal hides have been confiscated in Amazon (Rebelo & Magnunsson, 1983), the species is of negligible commercial value. On the other hand, it is possible that some populations might be threatened by habitat modification. This dwarf caiman apparently has strict habitat requirements in central Amazonia, where it is largely restricted to flooded forests along the margins of large rivers and lakes (Magnusson, 1985). Nevertheless, the species can be encountered from Amazonia southward through the drainages of the Sao Francisco, Parana and Paraguay rivers, excluding central areas of the Pantanal (Ross & Magnusson, 1989). Despite this extensive geographic distribution, there are no published studies of P. palpebrosus populations in the wild. This general lack of ecological information in one factor that could evantually affect the species conservation (Thorbjanarson, 1992).