Emys
| Emys | ||||||||||||
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European pond turtle ( Emys orbicularis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Emys | ||||||||||||
| Duméril , 1806 |
Emys is a genus of the New World pond turtles (Emydidae).
description
The species in the genus Emys are small to medium-sized pond turtles. The maximum length of the armor (height) is 230 millimeters, but the animals often stay much smaller. Additional suprascapules are present in the shoulder girdle. In contrast to the genera Emydoidea and Terrapene , however, Episcapula is missing. At least in young animals there is a weak median keel. Adult animals do not have axillary and inguinal shields. The bony connection between the carapace and the plastron is reduced. Plastic struts are missing. The hinge between the hyo- and hypoplastron is weak. The posterior edge of the plastron is not or only slightly cut out between the analia. The animals are long-tailed. There are webbed feet on the front and back feet. There are 5 claws on each front foot and 4 claws on each rear foot. The lower end of the jugale extends inward along the posterior margin of the maxillary to the pterygoid. The frontal has no contact with the orbital rim, since the corresponding bone elements are pushed inwards by the pre-frontal and post-orbital. The posterior palatine foramen is developed as a large window. The caroticopharyngeal foramen is small to moderately large. It is located between the pterygoid and the base phenoid, away from the suture.
Occurrence
The area of the genus includes Europe, North Africa and West Asia to the Aral Sea.
Systematics
The genus Emys was first described in 1806 by André Marie Constant Duméril . It comprises two recent types:
- European pond turtle ( Emys orbicularis ( Linnaeus , 1758))
- Sicilian pond turtle ( Emys trinacris Fritz, Fattizzio, Guicking, Tripepi, Pennisi, Lenk, Joger & Wink , 2005)
supporting documents
- Uwe Fritz: Europe's turtles . AULA-Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2012, ISBN 978-3-89104-761-3
further reading
- Phillip Q. Spinks, H. Bradley Shaffer: Conflicting Mitochondrial and Nuclear Phylogenies for the Widely Disjunct Emys (Testudines: Emydidae) Species Complex, and What They Tell Us about Biogeography and Hybridization . Syst Biol (2009) 58 (1): 1-20. doi: 10.1093 / sysbio / syp005
