Loggerhead musk turtle
| Loggerhead musk turtle | |
|---|---|
| |
| Hatchling loggerhead musk turtle | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Cryptodira |
| Family: | Kinosternidae |
| Genus: | Sternotherus |
| Species: | S. minor
|
| Binomial name | |
| Sternotherus minor (Agassiz, 1857)
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor) is a species of turtle in the family Kinosternidae. This turtle has a large head which has a light colored background with dark spots or stripes present on the head and neck.[2] The average size of a loggerhead musk turtle is about 3 to 5 inches in carapace length.[2] There are two subspecies of Sternotherus minor: Sternotherus minor minor (loggerhead musk turtle) and Sternotherus minor peltifer (stripe-necked musk turtle).[2]
The species is native to the southern United States, being found in rivers, wetlands, and streams in states such as Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia.[3][4] The diet of an adult loggerhead musk turtles consists mostly of clams and snails.[5][6]
Currently, the conservation status of the loggerhead musk turtle is least concern and its common threats include habitat loss and human interactions such as car or boating accidents.[3]
Description
The loggerhead musk turtle gets its common name from its unusually large head, compared to the common musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus). Its head has a light colored background with dark spots/stripes. Hatchlings are about 1 inch in carapace length and grow up to around 3 to 5 inches by adulthood. As juveniles, these turtles have three keels on their carapace that usually disappear by adulthood. The loggerhead musk turtle has barbels present on the chin only, not on the throat.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of Sternotherus minor: Sternotherus minor minor and Sternotherus minor peltifer, also known as the loggerhead musk turtle and the stripe-necked musk turtle, respectively. The two subspecies are visibly different, with S. m. minor having a darker tan colored head covered with dark spots and three keels on its carapace and S. m. peltifer having a yellow colored head with some dark spots, but mostly dark stripes and a ridged carapace. S. m. minor are generally a little larger in size than S. m. peltifer ranging from 3 to 5.625 inches (7.5 to 14.5 cm) in carapace length, while S. m. peltifer range from 3 to 4.625 inches (7.5 to 11.7 cm).
Geographic distribution
Within the southeastern United States, the loggerhead musk turtle can be found in Alabama, northern Florida, Georgia, extreme southeastern Kentucky, extreme eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, extreme western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and extreme southwestern Virginia.[7]
Habitat
S. minor lives in clean freshwater habitats such as springs, streams, and rivers.[7]
Reproduction
S. minor is oviparous. Hatchlings have a straight carapace length of 2.2–2.8 cm (0.87–1.10 in). They have three prominent keels on the carapace, and they have a pinkish unmarked plastron.[7]
References
- ^ Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 262–263. ISSN 1864-5755. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ a b c A., Buhlmann, Kurt (2008). Turtles of the southeast. Univ. of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-2902-4. OCLC 263712429.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Dijk (N/A), Peter Paul van (2010-08-01). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Sternotherus minor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- ^ Powell, Robert (2016). Peterson field guide to reptiles and amphibians of eastern and central North America. Roger Conant, Joseph T. Collins, Isabelle Hunt Conant, Tom R. Johnson, Errol D. Hooper, Travis William Taggart (Fourth edition ed.). Boston. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. OCLC 913923783.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Pfaller, Joseph Bryce (2009). "Bite-Force Generation and Feeding Biomechanics in the Loggerhead Musk Turtle, Sternotherus Minor: Implications for the Ontogeny of Performance".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Cox, William A.; Wyatt, Steven T.; Wilhelm, Walter E.; Marion, Ken R. (December 1988). "Infection of the Turtle, Sternotherus minor, by the Lung Fluke, Heronimus mollis: Incidence of Infection and Correlations to Host Life History and Ecology in a Florida Spring". Journal of Herpetology. 22 (4): 488. doi:10.2307/1564348. ISSN 0022-1511.
- ^ a b c Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 Plates, 207 Figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Sternotherus minor, pp. 227-228, Figure 104 + Plates 19, 21 + photo on p. ix).
Further reading
- Agassiz L (1857). Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. li + 452 pp. (Goniochelys minor, new species, p. 424).
- Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. ISBN 0-394-50824-6. (Sternotherus minor, p. 444 + Plates 311–312).
- Ernst CH, Lovich JE (2009). Turtles of the United States and Canada (2 ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. pp. 519–525. ISBN 978-0-8018-9121-2.
- McCoy CJ, Bianculli AV, Vogt RC (1978). "Sternotherus minor in the Pascagoula River system, Mississippi". Herpetological Review 9 (3): 109.
- Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3. (Sternotherus minor, pp. 28–29).
- Smith HM, Glass BP (1947). "A new musk turtle from the southeastern United States". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 37 (1): 22–24. (Sternotherus peltifer, new species).
External links
Media related to Sternotherus minor at Wikimedia Commons.
Data related to Sternotherus minor at Wikispecies.