Pearl River map turtle

The Pearl River map turtle (Graptemys pearlensis) is a species of emydid turtle native to the southern United States. According to a study done in January 2017, the species G. pearlensis was significantly less abundant in the Pearl River region as compared to G. oculifera and exhibited a smaller number of reproductively mature females. Further, this study highlighted statistical and observational evidence that this species exhibited female-biased, sexual dimorphism.[3]

Pearl River map turtle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Emydidae
Genus: Graptemys
Species:
G. pearlensis
Binomial name
Graptemys pearlensis
Ennen et al., 2010[2]
Combined range map of Pearl River map turtle (western blue section) and Pascagoula map turtle (eastern blue section)

Geographic range

It is endemic to the Pearl River in Louisiana and Mississippi.[2] The ringed map turtle (G. oculifera) is also endemic to the Pearl River.

Taxonomy

Until 2010, it was included in the Pascagoula map turtle (G. gibbonsi), which it resembles.[2] In 2010 Ennen and colleagues described Graptemys pearlensis as a new species. They used sequence variation of the mitochondrial control region along with the ND4 gene and found out three samples of Graptemys pearlensis constituting reciprocally monophyletic sister clades.[4]

References
  1. van Dijk, P.P. (2011). "Graptemys pearlensis (errata version published in 2016)". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011: e.T184437A97423604. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  2. Ennen, Joshua R.; Lovich, Jeffrey E.; Kreiser, Brian R.; Selman, W.; Qualls, Carl P. (2010). "Genetic and morphological variation between populations of the Pascagoula map turtle (Graptemys gibbonsi) in the Pearl and Pascagoula Rivers with description of a new species". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 9 (1): 98–113. doi:10.2744/CCB-0835.1. S2CID 49358338.
  3. Selman, Will; Jones, Robert L. (January 2017). "Population structure, status, and conservation of two Graptemys species from the Pearl River, Mississippi". Journal of Herpetology. 51 (1): 27–36. doi:10.1670/15-082. ISSN 0022-1511. S2CID 89108416.
  4. Praschag, Peter; Ihlow, Flora; Flecks, Morris; Vamberger, Melita; Fritz, Uwe (2017). "Diversity of North American map and sawback turtles (Testudines: Emydidae: Graptemys)". Zoologica Scripta. 46 (6): 675–682. doi:10.1111/zsc.12249. S2CID 89635583.


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