Northern spiny softshell turtle

The northern spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera spinifera) is a subspecies of soft-shelled turtle in the family Trionychidae. The subspecies is native to the United States and can be found from Montana at the western edge of its range to Vermont and Quebec on the eastern edge. Introduced populations have also been found in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona, and Virginia.[2]

Northern spiny softshell turtle
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Trionychidae
Genus: Apalone
Species:
A. spinifera
Subspecies:
A. s. spinifera
Trinomial name
Apalone spinifera spinifera
(Lesueur, 1827)
Synonyms[1]
  • Amyda spinifera hartwegi
    Conant & Goin, 1948
  • Amyda ferox hartwegi
    — Neill, 1951
  • Trionyx ferox hartwegi
    — Schmidt, 1953
  • Trionyx spinifer hartwegi
    — Schwartz, 1956
  • Trionyx spiniferus hartwegi
    — Wermuth & Mertens, 1961
  • Trionyx spiniferus bartwegi [sic]
    Curds & Knott, 1971
    (ex errore)
  • Apalone spinifera hartwegi
    — Ernst & Barbour, 1989
  • Apalone spinifera hartwegi
    — Stubbs, 1989

Etymology

Apalone spinifera spinifera has sometimes been used only to designate populations east of the Mississippi Populations, while populations west of the Mississippi have been designated Apalone spinifera hartwegi. The subspecific name hartwegi is in honor of Dr. Norman Edouard Hartweg (1904-1964), who was a specialist in turtles and professor of zoology at the University of Michigan.[3] While some morphological differences exist between northeastern and northwestern populations, a phylogeographic study found little genetic support for a distinction between eastern and western populations and recommended both groups be simply referred to as northern spiny softshell turtles.[4] This designation is currently recognized in the most up-to-date taxonomic checklist.[5]

References
  1. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology 57 (2): 306–310.
  2. Daniel, W.M., and Morningstar, C., 2020, Apalone spinifera spinifera (Lesueur, 1827): U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1276 , Revision Date: 10/22/2019, Peer Review Date: 3/1/2019, Access Date: 7/13/2020
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Apalone spinifera hartwegi, p. 117).
  4. McGaugh, Suzanne E.; Eckerman, Curtis M.; Janzen, Fredric J. (2008). "Molecular phylogeography of Apalone spinifera (Reptilia, Trionychidae)". Zoologica Scripta. 37 (3): 289–304. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00329.x. ISSN 1463-6409. S2CID 24647520.
  5. Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R. Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P.]. 2017. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (8th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 7:1–292. doi:10.3854/crm.7.checklist.atlas.v8.2017.

Further reading
  • Conant R, Goin CJ (1948). "A New Subspecies of Soft-shelled Turtle from the Central United States, with Comments on the Application of the Name Amyda ". Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan (510): 1-19. (Amyda spinifera hartwegi, new subspecies).
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