Loggerhead musk turtle
| Loggerhead musk turtle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| hatchling loggerhead musk turtle | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| 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 native to the United States.
Geographic distribution
The loggerhead musk turtle can be found in the states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
Description
detail of head
It gets its name from its unusually large head, compared to the common musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus). Adults can be 8–13 cm (3–5 inches) in carapace length. Barbels are present on the chin only, not on the throat.[2]
Habitat
They live in clean freshwater habitats.
Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies.
Sternotherus minor minor (Agassiz, 1857)
Sternotherus minor peltifer H.M. Smith & Glass, 1947[3]
References
- ↑ Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology 57 (2): 262–263. ISSN 18640-5755. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ↑ Conant R. 1975. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 429 pp. ISBN 0-395-19977-8. (Sternotherus minor, p. 42 + Plates 4,5 + Map 8).
- ↑ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
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).
- Smith HM, Glass BP. 1947. A new musk turtle from the southeastern United States. J. Washington Acad. Sci. 37 (1): 22–24.
- McCoy CJ, Bianculli AV, Vogt RC. 1978. Sternotherus minor in the Pascagoula River system, Mississippi. Herpetological Review. 9 (3): 109.
- 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.
External links
Media related to Sternotherus minor at Wikimedia Commons.
Data related to Sternotherus minor at Wikispecies.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
