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Caiman yacare (DAUDIN, 1801)

IUCN Red List - Caiman yacare - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAlligatoridae, Crocodylia, crocodiles (alligators)
SubspeciesCaiman yacare medemi DONOSO-BARROS 1974
Caiman yacare yacare (DAUDIN 1802) 
Common NamesE: Yacare caiman
G: Südlicher Brillenkaiman
Portuguese: Jacaré-do-Pantanal, Jacaré-do-Paraguai 
SynonymCrocodilus yacare DAUDIN 1801: 407
Jacaretinga punctulatus SPIX 1825
Alligator punctulatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1836: 91
Champsa vallifrons NATTERER 1840
Jacare longiscutata GRAY 1862
Jacare ocellata GRAY 1862
Jacare multiscutata GRAY 1867
Alligator punctulatus — GÜNTHER 1885: 21
Caiman sclerops BOULENGER 1889 (partim)
Caiman yacare — SCHMIDT 1928
Jacaretinga crocodilus yacare — WERNER 1933
Caiman crocodilus yacare — MÜLLER & HELLMICH 1936
Caiman crocodilus matogrossoiensis FUCHS 1971 (nomen nudum fide WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977)
Caiman crocodilus paraguayiensis FUCHS 1971 (nomen nudum fide WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977)
Caiman crocodilus matogrossiensis — FUCHS 1974 (fide MEDEM 1983)
Caiman crocodilus paraguaiensis — FUCHS 1974 (fide MEDEM 1983)
Caiman crocodilus matogrossiensis — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977: 137
Caiman crocodilus yacare — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977: 138
Caiman yacare — CEI 1993
Caiman yacare — NICKEL & AULIYA 2004
Caiman crocodilus yacare — MARTIN 2008

Caiman yacare medemi DONOSO-BARROS 1974
Caiman yacare medemi — NICKEL & AULIYA 2004 
DistributionN Argentina (Formosa), S Brazil, S Bolivia, Paraguay

medemi: Bolivia, Beni; Type locality: “Laguna Suárez, proximidades de Trinidad, Departamento del Beni, Bolivia”.

Type locality: Paraguay.  
Reproductionoviparous. Temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Nemesházi & Bókony 2023. 
TypesHolotype: unlocated (fide King & Burke 1989)
Holotype: MZUC (Museo Zoologico, Instituto Biologia, Universidad de Concepción, Chile) 2597, juvenile; paratype: Museo Argentina Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires [medemi] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Un caimán de aspecto relativamente esbelto, reconocible de los C. latirostris por su cabeza alargada, de perfil triangular en vista dorsal y con hocico ensanchado; por la cresta en U preocular muy reducida y poco evidente; por la llamativa serie de manchas laterales equidistantes y muy oscuras en la mandíbula. (Cei 1993)


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CommentSubspecies: Considered as subspecies of Caiman crocodilus by older authors.

Synonymy following that of CEI 1993 and KING & BURKE 1989.

Distribution: Fuchs (1971) improperly displaced the type locality of C. yacare to Bolivia in his description of paraguayiensis.

Hybridization: Caiman latirostris and Caiman yacare hybridze despite an estimated divergence approximately 26 million years ago (Pacheco-Sierra et al. 2025). 
EtymologyNamed after Guarani yacaré, vernacular name of a crocidile. (DAUDIN 1801, Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024)

C. y. medemi was named after Dr. Federico Medem (1912-1984) [obituary in Herpetologica 40: 468 [1984]. 
References
  • Blanco, M.V. Fernandez; Bona, P.; Olivares, A.I.; Desojo, J.B. 2015. Ontogenetic variation in the skulls of Caiman: the case of Caiman latirostris and Caiman yacare (Alligatoridae, Caimaninae). The Herpetological Journal 25 (2): 65-73 - get paper here
  • Brazaitis, Peter; Rebólo, George H.;Yamashita, Carlos 1998. The distribution of Caiman crocodilus crocodilus and Caiman yacare populations in Brazil. Amphibia-Reptilia 19 (2): 193-201 - get paper here
  • Busack, Stephen D. and Sima Pandya 2001. Geographic variation in Caiman crocodilus and Caiman yacare (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae): systematic and legal implications. Herpetologica 57 (3):294-312 - get paper here
  • Cacciali, Pier; Norman J. Scott, Aida Luz Aquino Ortíz, Lee A. Fitzgerald, and Paul Smith 2016. The Reptiles of Paraguay: Literature, Distribution, and an Annotated Taxonomic Checklist. SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MUSEUM OF SOUTHWESTERN BIOLOGY, NUMBER 11: 1–373 - get paper here
  • Campos, Zilca; Coutinho, Marcos; Magnusson, Willam E. 2005. Field Body Temperatures of Caimans in the Pantanal, Brazil. The Herpetological Journal 15: 97-106 - get paper here
  • Cano, Paula Daniela; Héctor Alejandro Ball, Matías Federico Carpinetto, Germán Darío Peña 2015. Reptile checklist of Río Pilcomayo National Park, Formosa, Argentina. Check List 11 (3): 1658 - get paper here
  • Carrillo, J F C; 2019. Caiman yacare (Yacare Caiman, Jacaré do Pantanal) Tadpoles in diet. Herpetological Review 50 (1): 130-131 - get paper here
  • Cei, J. M. 1993. Reptiles del noroeste, nordeste y este de la Argentina. Museo Regionale Sci. Naturale Torino, Monografie 14: 1-949
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  • Cintra, R. 1989. Maternal Care and Daily Pattern of Behavior in a Family of Caimans, Caiman yacare in the Brazilian Pantanal Journal of Herpetology 23 (3): 320-322. - get paper here
  • Daudin, F. M. 1801. Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Reptiles; ouvrage faisant suit à l'Histoire naturell générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon; et rédigee par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes. Vol. 2. F. Dufart, Paris, 432 pp. [publication date fide Harper 1940] - get paper here
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  • Donoso-Barros, R. 1974. Contribucion al conocimiento de los cocodrilos de Bolivia Caiman yacare medemi nuevo Aligatorido. Boletín de la Sociedad de Biologia de Concepción 47: 131-143 - get paper here
  • Dorado-Rodrigues, T. F., Pansonato, A., Mudrek, J. R., & Strüssmann, C. 2024. Amphibians and reptiles of urban area springs in the Cerrado savannah, Brazil. Herpetology Notes, 17, 109-131
  • Duméril, A.M. C. and G. Bibron. 1836. Erpetologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 3. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 528 pp. - get paper here
  • Freiberg & CARVALHO 1965. El yacare Sudamericano Caiman latirostris (Daudin). Physis. Buenos Aires. 25 (70): 351-360
  • Fuchs, K. 1971. Die Südamerikanischen Reptilhäute. Das Leder, Darmstadt. 22 (9): 197-213
  • Fuchs, K. 1974. Die Krokodilhaut; Ein wichtiger Merkmalträger bei der Identifizierung von Krokodil-Arten. Eduard Roether Verlang, Darmstadt. 183 pp.
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  • Hallmen, M. 2009. Ein Stück vom Paradies. Die Pouso Alegre im brasilianischen Pantanal aus Sicht eines Reptilienfreundes. Teil 2. Reptilia (Münster) 14 (77): 38-46 - get paper here
  • Harper, Francis 1940. Some works of Bartram, Daudin, Latreille, and Sonnini, and their bearing upon North American herpetological nomenclature. American Midland Naturalist 23 (3): 692-723 - get paper here
  • Kofron, Christopher P.; Patricia A. Farris 2015. Infrasound production by a yacare caiman Caiman yacare in the Pantanal, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 8: 385-387 - get paper here
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  • Medem, F. 1981. Los Crocodylia de Sur America. Vol. 1. Los Crocodylia de Colombia. Ministerio de Educacion Nacional, Bogotá. 354 pp.
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  • MORI, KELVIN; SEAN KEUROGHLIAN-EATON, DIEGO CAVALHERI, JOÃO EMÍLIO ALMEIDA-JÚNIOR, MÁRCIA MÜLLER & DIEGO JOSÉ SANTANA. 2023. Predation attempt on Trachycephalus typhonius (Linnaeus, 1758) by Caiman yacare (Daudin, 1802) Herpetology Notes 16: 745–747. - get paper here
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