EMYSystem Text Only Species Page: Chelydra serpentina
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order..........TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family...........Chelydridae (Snapping Turtles)
subfamily.......no_subfamily
genus...............Chelydra (Common Snapping Turtles)
species..............Chelydra serpentina (Common Snapping Turtle)
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- Original Description
- Linnaeus 1758 : 199
- Holotype
- Originally in NRM; lost according to Andersson 1900:4, 23; however, NRM GA 49 is apparently the holotype according to Wallin pers. comm.
- Type Locality
- "Calidis regionibus;" restricted by Smith and Taylor (1950b:21; see also 1950a:358) to "New Orleans, La." [Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA]; restricted by Schmidt (1953:86) to "vicinity of New York City" [New York, USA]
- Original name
- Testudo serpentina
- Common Name
- Common Snapping Turtle
- Distribution
- (Three maps) From southern Canada across the eastern USA, and southeastern Mexico to Colombia and Ecuador; introduced in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California, USA (Stebbins, 1985); only representative records are plotted for the southeastern, continuous portion of the range in the USA
- Comments
- The subspecies are accorded species status by some; however, Feuer (1971) demonstrated intergradation between Chelydra serpentina serpentina and Chelydra serpentina osceola. Reviewed by Medem (1977), Smith and Smith (1979), and Gibbons et al. (1988).
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