28-7818

North American Recent Soft-shelled Turtles
(Family Trionychidae)

BY

ROBERT G. WEBB

CONTENTS

PAGE
Contents[431]
Introduction[433]
Collecting Methods[434]
Materials and Procedure[437]
Acknowledgments[439]
Taxonomy[439]
Family Trionychidae Bell, 1828[439]
Genus Trionyx Geoffroy, 1809[443]
Variation[445]
Secondary Sexual Variation[446]
Ontogenetic Variation[449]
Geographic Variation[453]
Character Analysis[460]
Composition of the Genus Trionyx in North America[476]
Artificial Key to North American Species and Subspecies of the Genus Trionyx[476]
Systematic Account of Species and Subspecies[479]
Trionyx ferox[479]
Trionyx spinifer[486]
Trionyx spinifer spinifer[489]
Trionyx spinifer hartwegi[497]
Trionyx spinifer asper[502]
Trionyx spinifer emoryi[510]
Trionyx spinifer guadalupensis[517]
Trionyx spinifer pallidus[522]
Trionyx ater[528]
Trionyx muticus[531]
Trionyx muticus muticus[534]
Trionyx muticus calvatus[539]
Natural History[541]
Habitat[541]
Daily and Seasonal Activity[547]
Diurnal Habits[547]
Behavior Adaptations[549]
Movement[552]
Nocturnal Habits[553]
Seasonal Occurrence[553]
Food Habits[555]
Reproduction[558]
Size of Males at Sexual Maturity[558]
Size of Females at Sexual Maturity[560]
Sexual Activity[563]
Deposition of Eggs[565]
Reproductive Potential[568]
Eggs[572]
Incubation and Hatching[573]
Age and Growth[574]
Mortality[576]
Parasites[576]
Economic Importance[577]
Evolutionary History[578]
Distribution[578]
Relationships[579]
Fossils[582]
Phylogeny[585]
The Importance of the Study of Turtle Populations in Relation to the History of River Systems[588]
Summary[590]
Literature Cited[594]

INTRODUCTION

Is it true that the greater the degree of resemblance between two populations the shorter the time the two have been spatially isolated? Are aquatic environments more stable than terrestrial environments? These questions occurred to me while I was collecting turtles from river systems of the Gulf Coast. As a general rule, each kind of turtle seemed to occur throughout one continuous river system or large tributary, and with no barriers to dispersal therein and with the lapse of enough time for a population to reach its limits of dispersal, the question arose, "Where do subspecies and zones of intergradation occur?" It seemed logical to think that each isolated and continuous aquatic environment would not contain more than one subspecies of the same species. In terrestrial environments subspecies and transitions between them were recognizable. Terrestrial habitats were continuous for longer distances than the isolated, aquatic habitats. But, different species of turtles prefer different kinds of aquatic habitats. Also, barriers occur in large drainage systems, such as the Mississippi, where, in general, the western tributaries are sluggish, turbid and shallow, and the eastern tributaries are fast-flowing, clear and deep. But in young, relatively small, river systems that do not traverse radically different physiographic regions, and that show no gross ecological differences, habitats or microhabitats that do exist probably are only partial barriers and seem not to prevent the dispersal of most kinds of aquatic turtles. Consequently, it seemed that study of the degree of difference between closely related populations of turtles that occurred in one drainage system, or in adjacent drainage systems would indicate the length of time, respectively, that the drainage system had been continuous or the length of time that two or more systems had been isolated from one another.