Southern painted turtle

{{Speciesbox

| image = A3 Southern painted turtle.jpg

| taxon = Chrysemys dorsalis

| authority = Agassiz, 1857

| synonyms = Chrysemys picta dorsalis

}}

The southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. It is endemic to the south-central United States.{{Cite web |title=Chrysemys dorsalis |url=https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species.php?genus=Chrysemys&species=dorsalis |access-date=2022-03-28 |website=The Reptile Database}}

Taxonomy

The southern painted turtle was formerly considered a subspecies of the more widespread painted turtle (C. picta) as C. picta dorsalis, and its exact status is still debated.

Since the 1950s, the southern painted turtle, alongside the subspecies of C. picta, was generally thought to have originated following geographic isolation as a result of the Quaternary glaciation, with the populations being isolated for too short a time to fully diverge into distinct species.{{sfn|Ernst|Lovich|2009|p=187}} However, David E. Starkey and collaborators advanced a new view of the subspecies in 2003. Based on a study of the mitochondrial DNA, they rejected the glacial development theory and argued that the southern painted turtle should be elevated to a separate species, C. dorsalis, while the other subspecies should be collapsed into one and not differentiated.{{cite journal |last=Starkey |first=David |author2=Shaffer, H. Bradley |author3=Burke, Russel |author4=Forstner, Michael R. J. |author5=Iverson, John B. |author6=Janzen, Fredric J. |author7=Rhodin, Anders G. J. |author8=Ultsch, Gordon R. |display-authors=4 |date=2003 |title=Molecular systematics, phylogeography, and the effects of pleistocene glaciation in the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) complex |journal=Evolution |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=119–128 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2003.tb00220.x |pmid=12643572 |doi-access=free |s2cid=16681228}} However, this proposition was largely unrecognized because successful breeding between all subspecies was documented wherever they overlapped.{{sfn|Fritz|Havaš|2007|p=177}}{{sfn|Mann|2007|p=2}} Nevertheless, in 2010, the IUCN recognized both C. dorsalis and C. p. dorsalis as valid names for the southern painted turtle.{{sfn|Rhodin et al.|2010|p=000.99}}{{Cite book |last=Rhodin |first=Anders G.J. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021 |title=Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). |date=2021-11-15 |publisher=Chelonian Research Foundation and Turtle Conservancy |isbn=978-0-9910368-3-7 |series=Chelonian Research Monographs|volume=8 |doi=10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021 |s2cid=244279960 }} In 2014, the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (TTWG) and the Reptile Database reclassified C. dorsalis as a distinct species, although the TTWG also recognized C. p. dorsalis as a valid name. The TTWG continued to recognize C. dorsalis as a distinct species in their 2021 publication.

Description

File:B3_Southern_painted_turtle_underside.jpg

The smallest member of Chrysemys, it is smaller than any of the subspecies of C. picta at about {{convert|10|-|14|cm|abbr=on|in|0}} long.{{sfn|Carr|1952|p=226}} Its top stripe is a prominent red,{{cite web |last=Senneke |first=Darrell |date=2003 |title=Differentiating painted turtles (Chrysemys picta ssp) |url=http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/diffpaintedturtles.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021114140835/http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/diffpaintedturtles.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 14, 2002 |access-date=2010-12-09 |publisher=World Chelonian Trust}} and its bottom shell is tan and spotless or nearly so.{{sfn|Ernst|Lovich|2009|p=186}}

Ecology

This species' diet changes with age. Juveniles' diet consists of 13% vegetation, while the adults eat 88% vegetation. This perhaps shows that the turtle prefers small larvae and other prey, but can only obtain significant amounts while young.{{sfn|Carr|1952|p=228}} The reversal of feeding habits with age has also been seen in the false map turtle, which inhabits some of the same range. The most common plants eaten by adult southern painted turtles are duckweed and algae, and the most common prey items are dragonfly larvae and crayfish.{{sfn|Carr|1952|pp=227–228}}

Distribution

The southern painted turtle ranges from extreme southern Illinois and Missouri, roughly along the Mississippi River Valley, to the south. In Arkansas, it branches out to the west towards Texas, where it is found in the far northeast part of that state (Caddo Lake region){{cite book |last=Dixon |first=James Ray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-sNcnJoQMD4C&q="painted+turtle"&pg=PA196 |title=Amphibians and reptiles of Texas |date=2000 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-0-89096-920-5 |page=196 |access-date=2011-01-14}} as well as extreme southeastern Oklahoma (McCurtain County).{{cite web |title=Species of turtles in OK |url=http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishregs/turtlebullfrogreg.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525184242/http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishregs/turtlebullfrogreg.htm |archive-date=2011-05-25 |access-date=2011-07-21 |publisher=Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation}} It is found in much of Louisiana, where it reaches the Gulf of Mexico (in fresh water). Eastward it is found in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and much of Alabama, including the Gulf Coast city of Mobile.{{sfn|Ernst|Lovich|2009|p=185}}{{cite book |last=Conant |first=Roger |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetorept00cona_0/page/185 |title=Field guide to reptiles and amphibians of eastern and central North America |author2=Collins, Joseph T. |date=1998 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harc |isbn=978-0-395-90452-7 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetorept00cona_0/page/185 185–186]}} An isolated population in central Texas has been reported but is now believed to be non-native.{{cite journal |last=McAllister |first=Chris T. |author2=Forstner, Michael R.J. |author3=Fuller, Jonathan P. |date=2007-05-01 |title=Second report of the southern painted turtle, Chrysemys dorsalis (testudines: emydidae), from Texas, with comments on its genetic relationship to other populations |journal=The Texas Journal of Science |volume=59 |issue=2}}

Life history

It has a smaller clutch size than C. picta, at about 4.2 eggs per clutch.{{sfn|Ernst|Lovich|2009|p=201}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book

| last = Carr

| first = Archie

| author-link1 = Archie Carr

| title = Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California

| date = 1952

| chapter = Genus Chrysemys: The Painted Turtles

| series = Handbooks of American Natural History

| publisher = Comstock Publishing Associates a Division of Cornell University Press

| location = Binghamton, New York

| isbn = 0-8014-8254-2

}}

{{cite book

| last1 = Ernst

| first1 = Carl H.

| last2 = Lovich

| first2 = Jeffery E.

| title = Turtles of the United States and Canada

| date = 2009

| pages = 185–259

| publisher = JHU Press

| edition = 2nd

| isbn = 978-0-8018-9121-2

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nNOQghYEXZMC&pg=PA185

}}

{{cite journal

|last1=Fritz

|first1=Uwe

|last2=Havaš

|first2=Peter

|title=Checklist of Chelonians of the World

|date=2007

|journal=Vertebrate Zoology

|volume=57

|issue=2

|pages=149–368

|doi=10.3897/vz.57.e30895

|s2cid=87809001

|doi-access=free

}}

{{cite thesis

| last = Mann

| first = Melissa

| title = A taxonomic study of the morphological variation and intergradation of Chrysemys picta (Schneider) (Emydidae, Testudines) in West Virginia

| type = Master's thesis

| date = May 2007

| pages = i–64

| publisher = Marshall University

| url = http://mds.marshall.edu/etd/142/

}}