EMYSystem Family Page: Kinosternidae
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OrderOrder Testudines (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
FamilyFamily Kinosternidae (American Mud and Musk Turtles)
Subfamily
Genus
Species
range of family Kinosternidae
approximate range
Kinosterninae
Staurotypinae
 
Original Description Agassiz 1857 : 347
Original name Cinosternoidea
Common name American Mud and Musk Turtles
Distribution The Americas
Comments Bour and Dubois (1984c) discuss the history of the family name. All Mexican forms reviewed by Smith and Smith (1979). Phylogenetic relationships based on protein variation are discussed by Seidel et al. (1986); those based on neural bone patterns by Iverson (1988); and those based on morphology by Iverson (1991) and Hutchison (1991). Hutchison and Bramble (1981) and Bramble et al. (1984) discuss plastral morphology. Bickham and Carr (1983) consider the staurotypines a distinct family based on karyotypes (that arrangement followed by King and Burke, 1989:67); however, this arrangement is not supported by the morphological studies mentioned above or by Gaffney and Meylan (1988) and Meylan and Gaffney (1989:56).
 
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