Spectacled Caiman

The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus), also known as the white, common or speckled caiman, is a New World crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae, native to much of mainland Latin America, with the exception of Northern Mexico, Chile and Patagonia. Introduced, or escapee, populations also now exist in Florida and Puerto Rico. Its common name comes from the "spectacle"-like ridge of scales between its eyes; in crocodilians, ridged or raised scales on the upper body are called osteoderms.

Subspecies[]

The spectacled caiman has four recognized subspecies:

C. c. apaporiensis (Medem, 1955): the Rio Apaporis caiman, once thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered, is native to Colombia and possibly the Venezuelan Llanos.
C. c. chiapasius (Bocourt, 1876): the Chiapas caiman, occurs primarily in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, and is usually found no more than 80 km (approximately 50 miles) from the Pacific coastline. Its range is, more or less, contained between the mountains and ocean, from La Sepultura in the north, south to the city of Tapachula.^[1]
C. c. crocodilus (Linnaeus, 1758), the spectacled caiman, the nominate subspecies, is found in much of tropical South America, as well as the south Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Its range extends as far south as Cochabamba and La Paz, Bolivia, and Mato Grosso, Brazil.^[2]
C. c. fuscus (Cope, 1868), the brown caiman, is found from El Salvador and Honduras, south throughout Central America, as well as much of tropical Colombia and extreme western Venezuela, south to Guayaquil, Ecuador.^[3]

The related yacare caiman (C. yacare) was once seen as a subspecies of C. crocodilus, though it is now considered a distinct species.

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[1] ttps://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=116601

[2] ttps://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=116517

[3] ttps://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=116603

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