genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of large, herbivorous, freshwater turtles of the eastern United States and adjacent northeast Mexico. They are often referred to as cooters, which stems from ''kuta'', the word for turtle in the Bambara and Malinké languages, brought to America by enslaved people from Africa.
Etymology
The generic name ''Pseudemys'' is derived from the Greek words, ''pseudes'' meaning false or misleading, and ''emydos'' a freshwater turtle, implying a resemblance to, but not included in the genus ''
Emys
''Emys'' is a small genus of turtles in the family Emydidae. The genus (''sensu lato'') is endemic to Europe and North America.
Species
The following two species may be assigned to the genus ''Emys'' (''sensu lato'').
''Nota bene'': A binom ...
''.Seidel, Michael and Carl H. Ernst. 1996. Pseudemys '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 625: 1-7 pp. The trivial names, or specific epithets, of five of the species are toponyms, named for places where the species were first discovered including, the Florida peninsular (''P. peninsularis''),Seidel, Michael and Carl H. Ernst. 1998. Pseudemys peninsularis '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 669: 1-4 pp. the
Suwannee River
The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset h ...
(''P. suwanniensis''),Seidel, Michael and Michael J. Dreslik. 1996. Pseudemys concinna '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 626: 1-12 pp.
(''P. alabamensis''),McCoy, Clarence. J. and Richard C. Vogt. 1985. Pseudemys alabamensis '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 371: 1-2 pp.
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
(''P. floridana''), and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
(''P. texana'').Etchberger, Cory R. and John B. Iverson. 1990. Pseudemys texana '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 485: 1-2 pp. Two are patronyms, or eponyms, honoring prominent zoologists, George Robert Zug, curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Smithsonian,
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...
(''P. gorzugi''),Ernst, Carl H. 1990. Pseudemys gorzugi '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 461: 1-2 pp. and George Nelson, botanist, zoologist, and Chief Taxidermist at the
Museum of Comparative Zoology
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
, Harvard (''P. nelsoni'').Beolens, Bo, Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ages 188 &294 The other specific epithets are derived from Latin: ''P. concinna'', from ''concinnus'' meaning neat, trim, or skillfully joined, likely in reference to the relatively smooth, stream-lined shell, or possibly the colors and patterns on the carapace;Smith, Hobart M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1979. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol VI: Guide to Mexican Turtles, Bibliographic Addendum III.'' John Johnson. North Bennington, Vermont. 1044 pp.
age 444
Age or AGE may refer to:
Time and its effects
* Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed
** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1
* Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...
and ''P. rubriventris'', from ''rubidus'' reddish, and ''venter'' belly, referring the red color of the plastron.Graham, Terry E. 1991. Pseudemys rubriventris '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 510: 1-4 pp.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Pseudemys'' has an extensive, complicated, and at times contentious taxonomic history. Historically the genus has been intertwined with other genera, at times included in other genera or having members of other genera include in it ('' Chrysemys'', ''
Clemmys
''Clemmys'' is a genus of turtles currently containing a single extant species, the spotted turtle ''(Clemmys guttata)''.
Taxonomy
In the past, several other species were included in the genus, including a number of fossil species. DNA analysis ...
'', ''
Emys
''Emys'' is a small genus of turtles in the family Emydidae. The genus (''sensu lato'') is endemic to Europe and North America.
Species
The following two species may be assigned to the genus ''Emys'' (''sensu lato'').
''Nota bene'': A binom ...
'', ''Ptychemys'', and '' Trachemys''), as well as the recognition of a number of additional subspecies well into the third quarter of the 20th century.Seidel, Michael and Carl H. Ernst. 2012. Trachemys '' Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 891: 1-17 pp.McDowell, S. B. 1964. Partition of the genus Clemmys and related problems in the taxonomy of the aquatic Testudinidae. ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 143: 239-279. As recently as 1984 one reviewer of the genus called the chrysemyd complex "a taxonomic morass".Ward, Joseph P. 1984. ''Relationships of Chrysemyd Turtles of North America (Testudines: Emydidae).'' Special Publications, The Museum Texas Tech University. No. 21. 50 pp. Another wrote "''Pseudemys'' has long been recognized as something of a taxonomic quagmire, and has been the subject of a confusing litany of taxonomic arrangements."Spinks, Phillip Q., Robert C. Thomson, Gregory B. Pauly, Catherine E. Newmane, Genevieve Mount, and H. Bradley Shaffer. 2013. ''Misleading phylogenetic inferences based on single-exemplar sampling in the turtle genus Pseudemys.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 68 (2); 269-281. By the last decade of the 20th century, taxonomist were largely in agreement on a
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...
genus and the recognition of nine taxa. However the relationships and status of some of the taxa in the genus, as species or subspecies, has been inconsistent.Rhodin, Anders G.J. Peter Paul van Dijk, John B. Iverson, and H. Bradley Shaffer. 2010. Turtles of the World, 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution and Conservation Status. ' Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5: 85-164 pp. Some have recognize all nine taxa as full species.Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins (2016). ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition.'' Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiii + 494 pp. ages 211-217 Two clades, or species groups, are recognized within the genus, the red-bellied cooters (''P. alabamensis'', ''P. nelsoni'', ''P. rubriventris'') comprise one group (subgenus ''Ptychemys'') and the remaining six species in another species group (subgenus ''Pseudemys'').Seidel, Michael E. 1994. ''Morphometric Analysis and Taxonomy of Cooter and Red-Bellied Turtles in the North American Genus Pseudemys (Emydidae).'' Chelonian Conservation and Biology 1(2): 117-130.
Species
A study published in 2012 examined nuclear and mitochondrial genes from geographically widespread samples of all nine taxa, but identified only three clades pecies with significant integration between some clades, and stated: "We found little or no evidence supporting the division of ''Pseudemys'' into its currently recognized species/subspecies. Rather, our data strongly suggest that the group has been oversplit and contains fewer species than currently recognized." Somewhat confoundedly, the study did not recommend any taxonomic changes, concluding the resolution of ''Pseudemys'' will necessitate further analysis with an integrated review of morphology, historical
biogeographic
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...
data, and extensive geographic sampling with large amounts of molecular ( DNA) data.
Description
Members of this genus are among the largest of the
Emydidae
Emydidae (Latin ''emys'' (freshwater tortoise) + Ancient Greek εἶδος (''eîdos'', “appearance, resemblance”)) is a family of testudines (turtles) that includes close to 50 species in 10 genera. Members of this family are commonly calle ...
, capable of attaining carapace lengths of over 16.0 in (40.64 cm) and capable of weighing up to 35 lbs (15.876 kg), although most individuals are far smaller. All are aquatic, spending the majority of their time in lakes, rivers, and ponds where they can easily be seen basking on rocks and logs in sunny weather.
Distribution
The genus ''Pseudemys'' is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
. All but one species are endemic to the USA, predominantly occurring in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
and peripheral areas of southeast
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, southern
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and southeast
Kansas
Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
. The northern red-bellied cooter (''Pseudemys rubriventris''), ranges north into central
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
with some smaller isolated populations in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. The westernmost species, the Rio Grande cooter (''Pseudemys gorzugi''), occurs in the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
and several of its tributaries on the USA –
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
border, in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and the neighboring Mexican states of
Coahuila
Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico.
Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...
,
Nuevo Leon Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to:
* Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California
* Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin
* Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico
* "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...
, and
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
, following the
Pecos River
The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexic ...
into extreme southeast
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex
, Offi ...
. The greatest diversity is in northern
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
and adjacent areas of southern
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...
, feeding on variety of plants as well as sponges,
bryozoans
Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a l ...
, snails, clams, crayfish, and insects such as caddisfly larvae, dobsonfly larvae, dragonfly nymphs, fly and mosquito larvae, aquatic beetles, caterpillars, crickets, and grasshoppers. Tadpoles and very small fish (e. g. darters, ''
Percina
''Percina'' is a genus of small freshwater ray-finned fish, classified within the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches from North America. Like the similar fishes in the ...
'') are also included in their diets. Both juveniles and adults will consume
carrion
Carrion () is the decaying flesh of dead animals, including human flesh.
Overview
Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...
on occasion.Ernst, Carl. H., and Jeffrey E. Lovich. 2009. ''Turtles of the United States and Canada.'' Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. xii + 827 pp. ages 364-407
The diet shifts to a greater percentage of vegetation as the turtles mature. Adults ''P. peninsularis'' are reported to be 90%
herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...
, and adult ''P. nelsoni'', ''P. rubriventris'', and ''P. suwanniensis'' are almost exclusively herbivorous. '' Pseudemys concinna'' are known to retain a greater degree of animal prey in their diet than most species in the genus, but are still predominantly herbivorous as adults. In addition to a variety of algae and aquatic mosses, plants reported in the diets include fanwort (''
Cabomba
''Cabomba'' is an aquatic plant genus, one of two belonging to the family Cabombaceae. It has divided submerged leaves in the shape of a fan (hence the vernacular name fanwort) and is much favoured by aquarists as an ornamental and oxygenating pla ...
Lemna minor
''Lemna minor'', the common duckweed or lesser duckweed, is a species of aquatic freshwater plant in the subfamily Lemnoideae of the arum family Araceae. ''L. minor'' is used as animal fodder, bioremediator, for wastewater nutrient recovery, and ...
Hydrilla verticillata
''Hydrilla'' (waterthyme) is a genus of aquatic plant, usually treated as containing just one species, ''Hydrilla verticillata'', though some botanists divide it into several species. It is native to the cool and warm waters of the Old World in ...
''), water milfoil ('' Myriophyllum''), fragrant water-lily (''
Nymphaea odorata
''Nymphaea odorata'', also known as the American white waterlily, fragrant water-lily, beaver root, fragrant white water lily, white water lily, sweet-scented white water lily, and sweet-scented water lily, is an aquatic plant belonging to the ge ...
''), southern waternymph (''
Najas guadalupensis
''Najas guadalupensis'' is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names southern waternymph, guppy grass, najas grass, and common water nymph. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It is considered native to Canada (from A ...
Potamogeton
''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis'' ...
''), arrowhead (''
Sagittaria
''Sagittaria'' is a genus of about 303. Sagittaria Linnaeus ''
Vallisneria americana'') among many others.
Gallery
File:Pseudemys concinna, Marion Co., TX, 2017.jpg, River cooter ('' Pseudemys concinna''), photographed in situ, Marion County. Texas (13 April 2017)
File:PB110463CR (cropped).jpg, Rio Grande cooter ('' Pseudemys gorzugi''), a juvenile from Kinney County, Texas (11 Nov. 2018)
File:Pseudemys nelsoni 56613872.jpg, Florida Red-bellied Cooter ('' Pseudemys nelsoni''), Monroe County, Florida (21 Dec. 2011)
File:Everglades - Shark Valley - Turtle - how many heads? (12259763393).jpg, Peninsula cooter ('' Pseudemys peninsularis''), Miami-Dade Co., Florida (12 Jan. 2014)
File:Pseudemys rubriventris, Plymouth Co,, Massachusetts, 2011.jpg, Northern red-bellied cooter ('' Pseudemys rubriventris''), Plymouth Co,, Massachusetts (22 June 2011)
File:Suwannee River Cooter - Pseudemys concinna suwanniensis, Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Chiefland, Florida - 8723303192.jpg, Suwannee Cooter ('' Pseudemys suwanniensis''), Levy County, Florida (28 Apr. 2013)
File:Suwannee River Cooter - Pseudemys concinna suwanniensis, Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Chiefland, Florida.jpg, Suwannee Cooter (''Pseudemys suwanniensis''), close up of head, Levy County, Florida (28 Apr. 2013)
File:Pseudemys texana, Kerr Co., TX, 2014.jpg, Texas cooter ('' Pseudemys texana''), photographed in situ, Kerr County, Texas (9 May 2014)