Rio Grande cooter

Rio Grande cooter
Rio Grande Cooter at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas
A baby Rio Grande Cooter from Kinney County, Texas
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1) [1] [2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Emydidae
Genus:	Pseudemys
Species:	P. gorzugi
Binomial name
Pseudemys gorzugi Ward, 1984 [2]
Synonyms [3]
Pseudemys concinna gorzugi Ward, 1984 Pseudemys gorzugi — Ernst, 1990

The Rio Grande cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to northeastern Mexico and the adjacent southwestern United States.

Geographic range

The Rio Grande cooter is found in the Rio Grande drainage of Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas), New Mexico, and Texas. ^{[2] [3]} In the Texas portion of the Pecos River, an approximately 390 kilometer distributional gap exists from Loving and Reeves counties into Crockett County, possibly due to unsuitable conductivity levels ^[4] . A record from near the San Saba River in Menard County, Texas ^[5] has been confirmed as erroneous ^[6] .

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of P. gorzugi is freshwater wetlands, at altitudes of 259–1,082 m (850–3,550 ft). ^{[1] [7]}

Reproduction

Female P. gorzugi lay one to two clutches per year, with clutches ranging from 5–17 eggs ^{[8] [9]} .

Diet

Pseudemys gorzugi are omnivorous, but the relative importance of animal and plant food items varies across populations, sexes, and age groups. ^{[10] [11]}

Etymology

The specific name, gorzugi, is in honor of George R. Zug, the Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History. ^{[12] [13]}

References

1. van Dijk PP (2011). "Pseudemys gorzugi (errata version published in 2016)". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T18459A97425928. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T18459A8297596.en. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
2. Rhodin 2011, p. 000.181
3. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 195. doi: 10.3897/vz.57.e30895 .
4. Mahan, Laramie B.; Bassett, Lawrence G.; Duarte, Adam; Forstner, Michael R. J.; Mali, Ivana (23 September 2022). "Effects of salinization on the occurrence of a long-lived vertebrate in a desert river". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 15907. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-20199-3. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   9508222 . PMID   36151273.
5. Franklin, Carl; Reams, Richard (2001). "Pseudemys gorzugi (Western River Cooter)". Herpetological Review. 32 (2): 117.
6. Bassett, Lawrence; Pandelis, Gregory (3 May 2024). "Updated geographic distributions for Texas reptiles". Reptiles & Amphibians. 31 (1): e21492–e21492. doi:10.17161/randa.v31i1.21492. ISSN   2332-4961.
7. Species Pseudemys gorzugi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
8. Suriyamongkol, Thanchira; Mali, Ivana (5 November 2019). "Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) on the Black River, New Mexico". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 18 (2): 187. doi:10.2744/CCB-1385.1. ISSN   1071-8443.
9. Bohannon, Austin M.A.; Bassett, Lawrence G.; Sirsi, Shashwat; MacLaren, Andrew R.; Foley, Daniel H.; Fritts, Sarah R.; Pharr, Laura R.; Forstner, Michael R.J. (12 December 2022). "Reproductive Characteristics of Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) in Western Texas". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 21 (2). doi:10.2744/CCB-1551.1. ISSN   1071-8443.
10. Bassett, Lawrence G.; Mali, Ivana; Nowlin, Weston H.; Foley, Daniel H.; Forstner, Michael R.J. (9 December 2022). "Diet and Isotopic Niche of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) and Syntopic Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) in San Felipe Creek, Texas, USA". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 21 (2). doi:10.2744/CCB-1556.1. ISSN   1071-8443.
11. Letter, Andrew W.; Waldon, Korry J.; Pollock, Darren A.; Mali, Ivana (26 August 2019). "Dietary Habits of Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) from Two Sites within the Black River, Eddy County, New Mexico, USA". Journal of Herpetology. 53 (3): 204. doi:10.1670/18-057. ISSN   0022-1511.
12. Beltz, Ellin (2006). Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America – Explained. ebeltz.net/herps/biogappx.html#B.
13. 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. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 104, 294).

External links

• Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Bour, Roger (31 December 2011). "Turtles of the world, 2011 update: Annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution and conservation status" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2012.

Further reading

• Ernst CH (1990). "Pseudemys gorzugi Ward, Rio Grande Cooter". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (461): 1–2. (Pseudemys gorzugi, new status).
• Ernst CH, Lovich JE (2009). Turtles of the United States and Canada, Second Edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xii + 827 pp. ISBN   978-0-8018-9121-2. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 377–380).
• 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. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 214–215, Figure 95).
• Ward JP (1984). "Relationships of the chrysemyd turtles of North America (Testudines: Emydidae)". Special Publications of the Museum of Texas Technological University21: 1-50. (Pseudemys concinna gorzugi, new subspecies, p. 29, figure 6).