Escambian mute turtle
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Escambian Mute Turtle, Graptemys ernsti |
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| Graptemys ernsti | ||||||||||||
| Lovich & McCoy , 1992 |
The Escambian mute turtle ( Graptemys ernsti ) is a species of the mute turtle genus , which belongs to the New World pond turtle family, native to Florida and Alabama .
Appearance
The Escambian Mute Turtle usually has a flat yellow plastron without any pattern. The relatively high domed carapace is brown to olive and has a vertical yellow stripe on each side. Vertical stripes also run out to each marginal sign. Greenish polka dots are behind each eye. The spot on the head is surrounded by a V-shaped black stripe that meets the eyes on the side. The spot on the head has three prongs that run out towards the muzzle. A horizontal strip extends from the eye to each cheek. Both sexes have relatively pronounced spurs along the central keel.
The Escambian mute turtle shows a strong sexual dimorphism . With a carapace of 28 cm, the females are twice the size of the males and have a much thicker head and a very wide jaw. The males do not have elongated front claws like most males of the related species.
distribution and habitat
The Escambian mute turtle is found in the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico in the states of Florida and Alabama. It lives along the river system of the Escambia River , which flows into Pensacola Bay. This river system includes the Choctawatchee River , the Yellow River , the Conecuh River and the Shoal River and their river arms.
The river habitats in which the animals reside are very wide and have a relatively high flow velocity. The bottom of the rivers is sandy to pebbly. The hatchlings, on the other hand, prefer stagnant water with a silt bottom.
Way of life
The Escambian mute turtle sunbathes noticeably often during the day and can often be observed in its habitat. The animals mainly bask on roots protruding from the water in open water, and then drop into the water as quickly as possible in the event of danger. In contrast, food intake takes place mainly at night.
nutrition
The females with the wider jaws eat crayfish as well as native and imported mussels from Asia . Males and juveniles, on the other hand, tend mainly towards aquatic insects .
Enemies
Raccoons and herons are among the most dangerous enemies for clutches in the wild. Otters and waders are a threat to young animals and hatchlings. Occasionally, adult animals fall victim to alligators .
Taxonomy
Graptemys ernsti was split off from Graptemys pulchra as a separate species only in 1992 by JE Lovich and CJ McCoy . The specific epithet honors the American herpetologist Carl H. Ernst . The Escambia mute turtle is particularly similar to the Pascagoula mute turtle ( Graptemys gibbonsi ), which was first described in the same work by Lovich and McCoy . However, the two species are spatially separated from each other by the intervening distribution area of the jeweled mute turtle ( Graptemys pulchra ).
literature
- Carl H. Ernst, Jeffrey E. Lovich: Turtles of the United States and Canada . Johns Hopkins University Press , Baltimore 2009, pp. 364-399, ISBN 0-8018-9121-3
- Kurt Buhlmann, Tracey Tuberville, J. Whitfield Gibbons: Turtles of the Southeast . University of Georgia Press, Athens 2008, ISBN 0-8203-2902-9
Individual evidence
- ^ JE Lovich and CJ McCoy: Review of the Graptemys pulchra group (Reptilia: Testudines: Emydidae), with descriptions of two new species. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 61, pp. 293-315, 1992. (first description)
Web links
- Graptemys ernsti on Turtles of the World (English)
- Graptemys ernsti in The Reptile Database
- Graptemys ernsti inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Posted by: van Dijk, PP, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2013.