EMYSystem Text Only Species Page: Rhinoclemmys melanosterna


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order..........TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family...........Geoemydidae ()
subfamily.......no_subfamily
genus...............Rhinoclemmys (Neotropical Wood Turtles)
species..............Rhinoclemmys melanosterna (Colombian Wood Turtle)
Original Description
Gray 1861 : 205
Syntypes
(2 specimens) BMNH 1947.3.4.8; BMNH 1947.3.5.51
Type Locality
"Cherunha ... Gulf of Darien", although the types are listed as coming from "River Buonaventura" and "Chirambira, Gulf of Darien" by Boulenger (1889:124); restricted to "Chirambira near Buenaventura" by Mertens and Wermuth (1955:352) and to "Punta Chirambirá delta del rio San Juan, Chocó, Colombia" by Medem (1958:21)
Original name
Geoclemmys melanosterna
Common Name
Colombian Wood Turtle
Distribution
Eastern Panama to northwestern Colombia south to extreme northwestern Ecuador
Comments
Elevated to species status from the synonymy of R. punctularia (e.g., Ernst 1978, 1981c) by Pritchard (1979), Pritchard and Trebbau (1984), Paolillo (1985), and Carr and Bickham (1986).
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