EMYSystem Species Page: Pseudemys concinna
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OrderOrder Testudines (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
FamilyFamily Emydidae (Pond Turtles)
SubfamilySubfamily Deirochelyinae ()
GenusGenus Pseudemys (Cooter Turtles)
SpeciesSpecies Pseudemys concinna (River Cooter)
range of species Pseudemys concinna
approximate range
 
Original Description LeConte 1830 : 106
Type Locality "Inhabits in rivers of Georgia and Carolina, where the beds are rocky. I have never seen them below Augusta on the Savannah, or Columbia on the Congaree"; restricted by Schmidt (1953:101) to the "vicinity of Columbia [Richland Co.], South Carolina" [USA]
Syntypes (number uncertain) a specimen in the MNHN is being designated as lectotype by R. Bour pers. comm.
Original name Testudo concinna
Common name River Cooter
Distribution Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, Mexico to southeastern New Mexico, southern Illinois, eastern Virginia, and Florida, USA
Comments Subgenus Pseudemys. This is a distinctive species (see Ward, 1984) despite suggestions by some authors (e.g., Fahey, 1980; and Fritz, 1981a) that it is synonymous with Pseudemys floridana; however, the distributions of these two forms are unclear, in part because they apparently hybridize in some areas (see Mount, 1975, and Dundee and Rossman, 1989; among others). See reviews in Smith and Smith (1979) and Seidel (1981). No type specimen for Ptychemys hoyi (= Pseudemys concinna) was designated by Agassiz (1857:433), nor was any locality information provided; however, if it can be determined that the specimens available to Agassiz were from within the range of P. c. metteri, then hoyi (the older name) would be the valid name for that subspecies. P. c. hieroglyphica includes P. c. mobilensis (Holbrook 1838:53) according to Ward (1984:39). Ernst (1990a) elevated the subspecies gorzugi to full species status without any analysis.
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