Review of Crocodile (Reptilia: Crocodilia) and Dugong (Mammalia: Sirenia) Sightings in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Abstract

Three confirmed occurrences of crocodiles, one identified as Crocodylus porosus (two others presumed C. porosus), and four occurrences of the dugong, Dugong dugon, are recorded for the Federated States of Micronesia. The records of a crocodile and a dugong on Eauripik Atoll and a dugong on Kosrae are reported in the literature for the first time. On geographic grounds, the crocodiles and dugongs recorded from Yap State, in the western part of the FSM, probably pertain to vagrants from Palau, approximately 450 km to the southwest, whereas those recorded from the eastern islands (Pohnpei and Kosrae) are more likely to have originated from populations in the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands area, approximately 1,500 km to the southwest, rather than from Palau, which is a much greater distance to the west.