Box turtles
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| Merrem , 1820 |
The box turtles ( Terrapene ) are a genus from the suborder of the Halsberger turtles . The animals belong to the Emydidae family ( New World pond turtles ) and some of them live amphibiously.
Appearance
Box turtles have a curved carapace (back armor) with a more or less strongly developed central keel. With the help of a transverse joint in the plastron (belly armor) you are able to fold up the "front lobe" and "rear lobe" of the belly armor. Before that, they have to pull in their head and limbs. This closes the openings in the shell and protects the turtle from danger. However, this mechanism does not yet work in newly hatched young animals.
behavior
Box turtles look for food in the morning and evening. The rest of the time the animals spend resting, completely or partially buried in the sandy soil. Although box turtles are land animals, they can swim and go into the water well. You are usually not able to dive deep because of the stored fat in the carapace. Terrapene are individualists, each one has its own, characteristic habits and habitats ( habitats ). For example, some spend almost all of their time in the water, while others never go to it. Box turtles keep depending on the species, resp. Subspecies a hibernation .
nutrition
Terrapens are generally omnivorous. It is said that hatchlings are easy to get used to mixed foods (lettuce, fruit, mice, woodlice, worms, snails, etc.), but that they eat more carnal food and eat vegetable foods, including mushrooms, etc., when they get older. In some books you can read that the animals can also eat poison mushrooms without being harmed. Therefore, it is not advisable for humans to eat the turtles as these toxins do not lose their effectiveness in the turtle's body.
distribution
Terrapens are common in much of the United States . They occur, except in the mountains, from northeast North America across most of the USA, between the western tributaries of the Mississippi and in individual areas in central and southern Mexico .
Natural habitat
Box turtles prefer fertile grasslands, sandy, semi-arid soils with shrub growth, near bodies of water. They can also be found along the edges of forests and light forests, meadows, wet meadows, swamp areas and along streams and ditches.
Systematics
The genus Terrapene is divided into 5 species , with the individual species still having subspecies:
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Common box turtle ( Terrapene carolina (Linnaeus, 1758))
- Carolina box turtle ( Terrapene carolina carolina (Linnaeus, 1758))
- Florida box turtle ( Terrapene carolina bauri Taylor 1895)
- Gulf Coast Box Turtle ( Terrapene carolina major (Agassiz, 1857))
- Terrapene mexicana (Gray, 1849)
- Coahuila box turtle ( Terrapene coahuila Schmidt & Owens, 1944)
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Drop box turtle ( Terrapene nelsoni Stejneger, 1925)
- Southern drop box turtle ( Terrapene nelsoni nelsoni Stejneger, 1925)
- Northern drop turtle ( Terrapene nelsoni klauberi Bogert, 1943)
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Ornate box turtle ( Terrapene ornata (Agassiz, 1857))
- Eastern jewelry box turtle ( Terrapene ornata ornata (Agassiz, 1857))
- Western ornate box turtle ( Terrapene ornata luteola Smith & Ramsey, 1952)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Rogner: Tortoises - biology, keeping, reproduction. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, p. 71.
- ^ S. Niedzielski: Economic Importance for Humans: Negative. Terrapene carolina - Florida Box Turtle. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan , Museum of Zoology, 2002. Retrieved July 16, 2014
- ↑ Uwe Fritz, Peter Havas: Checklist of Chelonians of the World. In: Vertebrate Zoology. 57, 2, 2007, p. 184 (full text, PDF, English) ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bradley T. Martin, Neil P. Bernstein, Roger D. Birkhead, Jim F. Koukl, Steven M. Mussmann, John S. Placyk Jr .: Sequence-based molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of the American box turtles (Terrapene spp.) with support from DNA barcoding . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 68 (1), 2013, pp. 119-134. ( mtmercy.edu ; PDF; 2036 kB), accessed on April 3, 2015.
literature
- Manfred Rogner: Tortoises - biology, keeping, reproduction. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5440-1 .
Web links
- Encyclopedia of Life (EOL): Box Turtles
- Terrapene in The Reptile Database