EMYSystem Text Only Species Page: Apalone spinifera
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order..........TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family...........Trionychidae (Softshell Turtles)
subfamily.......Trionychinae (Common Softshell Turtles)
genus...............Apalone (North American Softshell Turtles)
species..............Apalone spinifera (Spiny Softshell Turtle)
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- Original Description
- LeSueur 1827 : 258
- Syntypes
- (8 specimens) MNHN 1949; MNHN 6957; MNHN 8807; MNHN 8808 (designated lectotype by Webb 1962:491); MNHN 8809; MNHN 8810; MNHN 8811; MNHN 8812; MNHN 1949 and 6957 may be syntypes of Trionyx ocellatus LeSueur 1827:261 [= Trionyx spiniferus LeSueur]) according to R. G. Webb.
- Type Locality
- "Newharmony, sur le Wabash" [= New Harmony, Wabash River, Posey County, Indiana, USA]
- Original name
- Trionyx spiniferus
- Common Name
- Spiny Softshell Turtle
- Distribution
- Southern Ontario and Quebec, Canada to north Florida, Montana and New Mexico, USA, and Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, Mexico; introduced into the Colorado and Gila river drainages of southwestern USA and adjacent Mexico and several localities along Pacific coast of California (Stebbins, 1985)
- Comments
- Synonymy includes Trionyx ater Webb and Legler (1960:21) according to Smith and Smith (1979). Reviewed by Webb (1973a; as Trionyx ater), Webb (1973d; as Trionyx spiniferus), Smith and Smith (1979; in Mexico, as Trionyx spiniferus), and Meylan (1987). Subgenus Apalone according to Meylan (1987:92).
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