Tote-Up Review

The following is my assessment of some of the Cryptid categories as given in the basic standard Cryptozoology. * indicates a category I consider to be of interest and a potential new species not catalogued by science, and the categories I would strike from the list are also indicated.  To make it easier to read I have also colour-coded it and purple indicates the Cryptid categories, black background and red print indicates the ones I would drop out

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Bernard Heuvelmans Sea Serpents:

*Long Necked A 30-60-foot (9-18 m), long-necked, Plesiosaur-shaped Cosmopolitan animal.
*"Megalotaria" an uncatalogued Walrus-sized sea lion (as a separate spinoff category)  

Super Eels: A group of large and possibly unrelated eel-shaped fishes. 
Partially based on the "Leptocephalus giganteus" larvae (Which includes two unrelated kinds also)
*"Megaloconger" the 30 foot long kind (as a separate spinoff category) 
*"Titanoconger" the 60-100 foot (18-30 m) long kind (as a separate spinoff category) 

*Marine Saurian: A 50–60-foot (15–18 m) sea crocodile,
 *Mosasaur (or Pliosaur) 60-100 foot (18-30m) long (as a separate spinoff category) 

VOID CATEGORIES:

Merhorse  A 60-100 foot (18-30 m), medium-necked, large-eyed, horse-headed pinniped. Maned and often has whiskers.   

Many-Humped  A 60–100-foot (18–30 m), medium-necked, long-bodied archaeocete. It has a series of humps or a crest on the spine like a sperm whale's

Super Otter A 65–100-foot (18–30 m), medium-necked, long-bodied archaeocete that resembles an otter. It moves in numerous vertical undulations

Many Finned  A 60–100-foot (18–30 m), short necked archeocete. It has a number of lateral projections that look like dorsal fins, but turned the incorrect way.

Yellow Belly: A very large, 100–200-foot (30–61 m) yellow-and-black-striped, tadpole-shaped creature. Dropped. (Could still count as a larger form of whale shark)

Father-of-all-the-turtles: A giant turtle. Dropped.
 .
Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe (Additional Categories)

Mystery Cetacean: A category of uncatalogued whale species including
   *Unknown porpoises and dolphins
   *Double finned whales and dolphins,
   *Dorsal finned sperm whales,
   *Unknown beaked whales,
   *Unknown orca,
   *Walrus-tusked whales and others. 
Mystery Sirenian:
   *surviving Steller's sea cow
   *and possible African freshwater dugongs 
*Giant Beaver 
   *Giant Otter (as a separate spinoff category) 
*Mystery Monitor
   *Mystery Iguana (as a separate spinoff category)
*Mystery Sharks

Mystery Manta (Possibly known species)
Mystery stingrays (as a separate spinoff category) (Possibly known species) 

 Mystery Salamander (Known species)
Big Fishes (Sturgeons, alligator gars, pikes, catfishes, paddlefish and others)  (Known species)     

Giant Octopus, Octopus giganteus or Otoctopus giganteus:   (VOID)
*Northern Colossal Squid (as a separate spinoff category) (Possibly a new species)

VOID CATEGORIES:

 Classic Sea Serpent: A quadrupedal, elongated animal with the appearance of many humps when swimming. Essentially a composite of the many humped, super otter, and super eels types. The authors suggest Basilosaurus as a candidate (Standing Wave)

Waterhorse: A large pinniped, similar to the long necked + merhorse. Both of their eyes are rather small. They are noteworthy for being behind both salt and fresh water sightings.
(Maned, horned, with prominent ears and beards, one prominent shoulder hump and occasional cloven hoofprints when they come ashore=Swimming Moose)

Cetacean Centipede (the Many-finned SS)  (Row of Dolphins or small whales)

                         
Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe (Abominable Snowmen Categories)

1. *Neo Giant (Reverts to possible Gigantopithecus after Krantz)
    *Subgiant (Tropical Africa)> (Possible robust Australopithecus sp)
2. True Giant (VOID) (Reverts to possible Gigantopithecus after Krantz,ie, included in Neo Giants)

3. Marked Hominid (a Homo sapiens variety) (Known species)
4. Neanderthaloid (a Homo sapiens variety) (Known species)
5. Erectus Hominid (a Homo sapiens variety) (Known species)
6. Proto Pygmy (a Homo sapiens variety) (Known species)

7. Unknown Pongid (Generally Orangutan varieties) (Known species)

8. Giant Monkey
    (>*Isnachi in the New World) 
9. Merbeing >
     (Chupacabras) (VOID) +
    *?Freshwater Monkeys after Tyler Stone
    *?Merfolk (Basically allowed to stand)
               
Ivan T Sanderson Abominable Snowmen: Legend come to Life

 Of Sanderson's four categories, only the *Neo-Giants remain as an open category (as above), and in this category we follow Heuvelmans' example and defer to Grover Krantz.

Bernard Heuvelmans, On the Track of Unknown Animals

Contents
4	Nittaewo, the Lost People of Ceylon	91
5	Orang Pendek, the Ape-Man of Sumatra	119
6	The Not So Abominable Snowman (All possible Orangutans)	143
7	The Surrealist Dinosaur of New Guinea (Hoax)                                                             > *Giant Monitors	219
*8	The Incredible Australian Bunyips  (> Seals )                                                              and > *Giant Monitors,                                                               *Giant "Demon Ducks"	226
9	The Queensland Marsupial Tiger	251
*10	The Moa, a Fossil that May Still Thrive                                                   *Small Turkey-sized Moa                                                   *Medium Emu-like Moa                                                   *Large Moa like Dinornis	262
11	Waitoreke, Impossible New Zealand Mammal (Probable imported otter)	293
12	The Patagonian Giant Sloth > * Equatorial Forest Ground sloths	301
*13	The Giant Anaconda (*Sucuriju Gigante)  and Other Inland 'Sea-Serpents' (*Dormador or Black Boa)	338
14	Apes in Green Hell (Possible Apes: Mono Rey                                                      *And Mono Grande)	363
15	The Mammoth of the Taiga (Possible Survival but Possibly Now Extinct)	397
16	Three Large Pygmies: the *Forest Rhinoceros (African Unicorn),  the Water Elephant  (Forest elephant, known species) and the Spotted Lion (Lions are a known species)	427
17	The Nandi Bear, an East African Proteus (+Possible Unknown Brown Bear possibly involved, Brown bears are a known species)	445
18	Mngwa, the Strange One  (Possibly a giant Golden Cat in Mottled phase)	495
*19	The Little Hairy Men (*Gracile Australopithecus)	503
*20	The Dragon St George Did Not Kill (*Giant Monitor Lizard                                                         *Unknown Robust Crocodile                                                         *Unknown Giant Otter)	520
21	Kongamato, the Last Flying Dragon  (Possible Freshwater Stingray)	582
*22	*Vorompatra (>Lesser Elephant Bird), *Tratratratra, (4 Possible Giant Lemur Survivals) etcetera

The 'Merfolk-Chupacabras' of Coleman/Hughe Field Guide as Compared to Tyler Stone's Freshwater Monkeys

Quoting from an online review of Loren Coleman's opinion of "Merbeings"

 Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman and Fortean researcher
Patrick Huyghe devote a whole chapter to "Merbeings,"and summarize a
number of actual "Merbeing" sighting reports, in The Field Guide to
Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates (Anomalist Books, 2006). Coleman
and Huyghe list the "Merbeing" as the ninth and last of their nine basic
categories of  possibly real unknown primates sharing our planet
with us, including also the Neo-Giant (including the "classic" or
"standard" North American Bigfoot/Sasquatch and Himalayan Yeti), True
Giant, Marked Hominid, Neandertaloid, Erectus Hominid, Proto-Pygmy
(including Sumatra's Orang pendek and Flores Island's  Ebu gogo),
Unknown Pongid, and Giant Monkey. They further subdivide the "Merbeing"
into two distinct subtypes, a more fishlike, fully aquatic sea-going
marine variety including the traditional "Mermaids" of Western legend,
and a bipedal semi-aquatic freshwater variety including the Latin
American Chupacabras, Japanese Kappa, Madagascar Kalanoro,
and North American "Lizard-men."

"The Merbeing, or water creature," Coleman and Huyghe note at the
beginning of their "Merbeing" chapter in The Field Guide to
Bigfoot..., is "perhaps the most traditional of all the undiscovered
nonhuman primates" (Loren Coleman & Patrick Huyghe, **The Field Guide
to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates**, p. 37). "Perhaps
surprisingly," however, "the Mermaids and Mermen of ancient lore are
still being seen today," though in seemingly far fewer numbers than
formerly. Yet this group of aquatic beings "ranges far beyond the
Merpeople of yore" and also includes creatures like "the Sea Ape of the
Bering Sea, the scaly-looking but actually hairy and misnamed Lizard
Men, and the fiery-eyed Latino phenomenon known as the Chupacabras."
Likewise, "Asians have been aware of their Kappa and other Merbeings
for centuries" (Coleman & Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot..., p. 37).

Merbeings, Coleman and Huyghe note, "appear to come in two varieties,"
marine and freshwater. The "marine subclass" is "distinguished by a
finlike appendage," while the freshwater subclass is "characterized by
an angular foot with a high instep and three pointed toes." The
Chupacabras, Kalanoro, and "Lizard Man" freshwater merbeings are
"often found venturing onto land" and are "far more aggressive and
dangerous, being carnivorous," than the "calmer" marine type** (Coleman
& Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot, p. 37).
[Personally I do not count the Kalaorno, either]

Merbeings vary in height, according to Coleman and Huyghe, from dwarf to
human-sized. Their bodies are "strong, bit not stocky or bulky." Marine
Merbeings have smooth skin, sometimes with a very short "fur," while the
freshwater type sometimes has patchy hair growths that appear "like
leaves" or "scaly," giving a reptilian impression responsible for the
popular name "Lizard Men." In both types, the hair is often "maned,"
though "some exhibit almost complete hair cover, especially in the
Chupacabras kin." Merbeings generally have oval or almond-shaped
eyes, "perhaps due to their watery origins." These "mostly nocturnal
creatures" have a "singsong vocalization," which has been "reported
almost universally from Eurasia to Africa" (**Coleman & Huyghe, The
Field Guide to Bigfoot, pp. 37-38).
**Coleman and Huyghe  suggest a relationship of the freshwater Merbeings--the
Chupacabras, Kappa, "Giant Frog", and "Lizard Man" types--to the
"prosimians" (primitive primates) known as the loris and potto,
especially the potto. Freshwater primates, they point out, often display
a row of spikes along their backs, a "rather unknown but not[?Completely] unknown
feature among primates." In the potto, a cat-sized African loris, the
spines of the last neck vertebra and first thoracic vertebra penetrate
the skin and are capped with horny spines. When the potto is threatened,
the spines stand up so that a predator can't bite it on the neck.
Also--while freshwater Merbeings appear to be three-toed, the potto has
an enormous big toe pointing in the opposite direction from its third,
fourth, and fifth toes, and a vestigial second toe reduced to a lump
bearing a cleaning claw. "So much for primates not having weird digits
and spines on their backs," they remark **Coleman & Huyghe, The Field
Guide to Bigfoot..., p. 38).*

*The "whole body of lore on Merbeings," Coleman and Huyghe believe,
"appears to have basis in reality and is not all myth," as "Credible
sightings have occurred." On the other hand, they feel, the "increased
activity or visibility of the _/chupcabras/_" and the decreased reports
of oceanic Mermaids and Mermen may "signal a shift toward the successful
survival of the more aggressive freshwater, land-oriented sublass" of
Merbeings. Sightings of Louisiana's "scary, triple-toed Honey Island
swamp monster," Canada's "three-fingered and three-toed Thetis Lake
monster," South Carolina's "similarly digited Scape Ore Swamp Lizard
Man." and the Latin American Chupacabras suggest that "the most
dangerous Merbeing variety is presently at the head of its class."
**(**Coleman & Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot_, p. 38).

I find that Tyler Stone's revision of the Freshwater Monkey category was constructed as a substitute for Coleman and Huyghe's freshwater Merbeing. the Fit is usually good enough, but the understanding about the Chupacabras in particular needs more clarification. My impression is that we have identified the "Freshwater Merbeing" pretty well but it is NOT what is being sighted and called a "Chupacabras." and there is a question about how frequently they are called "Swamp Monsters" and/or  if the "Lizardmen" really belong with the rest of the sightings of basically smaller creatures. I have been finding more sightings of the "Thetis Lake Monster" types in other lakes in British Columbia as well, so there is evidently indirect indication that the tradition does exist locally and some of the sightings could be legitimate at Thetis Lake. The Freshwater monkeys do NOT have spines but they have longer hair on the head and back, called a mane, and locks of it can stick together  to be called spines or scales

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/08/freshwater-monkeys.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/02/freshwater-monkeys-and-other.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-freshwater-monkeys-sprites.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/chaneques.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/some-speculations-on-freshwater-monkey.html

Europe: Watersprites and Goblins

 

Kittelsen_TheWaterSprite

Japan: Kappas

NWCoast Area and S Alaka: Kushtaka the Otter Man 

 

 Chaneques, Mexico

 

"Baby Chupacabras" as produced bya Japanese Toy company

 

Honey Island Swamp Monster, possible adult male with fully dry fur fluffed up

 

 

Macaque monkey going swimming

Some modern macque monkeys do go in for wading

 and swimming, and they can and do find food in there

 

 And for reference again the Line-up of the types to scale (Paste-up and editing by Dale D)