Crocodylus halli is a fraudulently coined nameScientific Fraud!
Newly discovered species of crocodile is not so new after all!

Media release dated 27 September 2019.

The widely publicized alleged discovery of a new species of crocodile in southern New Guinea this week has been exposed as a scientific fraud.
In a supposedly peer reviewed paper, a group of so-called scientists alleged they had found a new species of crocodile in southern New Guinea and proceeded to formally name it Crocodylus halli, Murray et al. 2019.
It can now be revealed that their work is little more than a fraud in that their key findings had in fact been lifted from a 7 year old paper that had already discovered and named the very same species. Using almost identical morphological and geographical data, Australian scientist Raymond Hoser, better known as The Snake Man had identified and named the southern New Guinea species as separate to the better known northern species.
The name assigned was Crocodylus (Oopholis) adelynhoserae (Hoser, 2012).
The 2019 paper by Murray et al. does not cite the earlier Hoser work in any way, shape or form, even though it is clear much of what is within their paper has been effectively lifted from it. Instead the authors have marketed the contents of their 2019 paper as their own original work and discovery. While authors overlooking earlier important papers was common in years past, it is rare in the present time due to the fact that scientific papers are databased and widely accessible almost immediately after publication.
The papers of Hoser and the crocodile one from 2012 in particular have been widely publicised and cited, including in some of the most widely read herpetological journals on the planet.
This means that it would be effectively impossible for four authors, all in the same research space (Crocodiles) and one or more alleged peer reviewers would be both unaware of the 2012 Hoser paper and the data presented within it.
In terms of a reviewer, it would be impossible to miss the obvious fact that the key evidence and findings in both the 2012 and 2019 papers are identical.
At the time Hoser’s 2012 paper was published he was widely accused of “Taxonomic vandalism”, which is a nefarious practice of recklessly renaming species that have already been named. Hoser challenged this claim on the basis his two newly discovered species of crocodiles, one from Australia and one from New Guinea, were in fact different and he said he had evidence in his paper that supported this.
Since then, Northern Territory Crocodile experts have confirmed the genetic distinctiveness of the species Hoser named from there, namely Crocodylus Oopholis) jackyhoserae (Hoser, 2012), and now the paper of Murray et al. does the same for the New Guinea species Crocodylus adelynhoserae (Hoser, 2012) in that they do present a limited amount of further supporting data beyond what Hoser first published in 2012.
Ironically, it is the actions of Murray et al. 2019, that constitute taxonomic vandalism and scientific fraud.
Hoser has contacted the editor of the PRINO (Peer reviewed in name only) journal Copeia already seeking they immediately retract their paper on the basis of plagiarisation and taxonomic vandalism, or to at least correct the illegal coining of a new name for a long discovered species in breach of the rules of the International Commission of Nomenclature and the International Code of Nomenclature.
In any event, one thing is clear and undeniable. The allegedly newly discovered species of crocodile from southern New Guinea is not so new after all. It was formally discovered and named 7 long years ago.
The two relevant papers are as follows:
Hoser, Raymond T. A review of the taxonomy of the living Crocodiles including the description of three new tribes, a new genus, and two new species. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 14:9-16.
Full text available at:
http://www.smuggled.com/Issue-14-9-16.pdf

and
Christopher M. Murray, Peter Russo, Alexander Zorrilla, and Caleb D. McMahan, 2019. Divergent Morphology among Populations of the New Guinea Crocodile, Crocodylus novaeguineae (Schmidt, 1928): Diagnosis of an Independent Lineage and Description of a New Species. Copeia, 107(3): 517-523.
Full text available at:
https://bioone.org/journals/copeia/volume-107/issue-3/CG-19-240/Divergent-Morphology-among-Populations-of-the-New-Guinea-Crocodile-Crocodylus/10.1643/CG-19-240.full?fbclid=IwAR2sGH3LpTBuYF0MHrehfs_A0WWpbXzRHWVTAx6CmV10egHsz89Way8l_PI

Further information at:
(Australia) 0412-777211
snakeman (at) snakeman.com.au

Copy of email sent to Leo Smith (editor Copeia)

Duplicate (2019) name for crocodile species (2012) coined in COPEIA in 2019 in breach of the ICZN rules and Code.
Raymond Hoser - The Snakeman
Thu 26/09/2019 11:18 PM
TO/ leosmith@ku.edu
Dear Sir,
I understand you are the editor of the supposedly peer reviewed journal Copeia. I have been alerted today to a paper published online yesterday.
Christopher M. Murray, Peter Russo, Alexander Zorrilla, and Caleb D. McMahan, 2019.
Divergent Morphology among Populations of the New Guinea Crocodile,
Crocodylus novaeguineae (Schmidt, 1928): Diagnosis of an Independent Lineage and Description of a New Species. Copeia, 107(3) : 517-523
and numerous tabloid news reports derived from this paper and the relevant media release, claiming discovery of a new species of crocodile.
Unfortunately, this taxon was in fact named 7 years back in this paper:
Hoser, Raymond T. 2012. A review of the taxonomy of the living Crocodiles including the description of three new tribes, a new genus, and two new species. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 14:9-16.
Full text available at:
http://www.smuggled.com/Issue-14-9-16.pdf
It is self evident from the paper in your journal that the earlier work was either overlooked or ignored as was the correct nomen for the said taxon.
Hence Crocodylus halli Murray et al., 2019 is nothing more than a recklessly coined junior synonym of Crocodylus adelynhoserae (Hoser, 2012).
The earlier name is the correct name according to the rules of the ICZN and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and I welcome the independent findings of the later authors that confirm the results of my own meticulous research that took more than 20 years to publish from the time my relevant research commenced.
In summary, your editorship and journal and any peer reviewers (if they exist) look like fools for overlooking an earlier publication that is well known and has been made even more well known than it should have been due to the vocal criticism by a band of thieves known as kaiser et al. including via their publications in places like Herpetological Review and thousands of internet sites (none of which were cited by your authors or alleged reviewers either).
On the basis of the preceding, can you please publish a correction in your next journal and online (immediately) to the effect that the correct nomen for the said taxon is in fact adelynhoserae, Hoser, 2012 as failure on your part to do so will create uneccessary instability in nomenclature, should your error be allowed to persist any longer than neccessary.
I am sure you will agree that quality of a journal is determined both by mistakes published and more importantly how they are rectified after these are made known.
Please deal with this problem as a matter of urgency and advise me in writing when the corrections are made and published.
Yours Faithfully,
Raymond Hoser

Wolfgang Wüster, a case study of fraud, misconduct and illegal activity.

A case of scientific fraud by Wulf Schleip: Taxonomic Vandalism of the worst form.

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