The Rio Grande cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to northeastern Mexico and the adjacent southwestern United States.

Rio Grande cooter
Rio Grande Cooter at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas
A baby Rio Grande Cooter from Kinney County, Texas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Emydidae
Genus: Pseudemys
Species:
P. gorzugi
Binomial name
Pseudemys gorzugi
Ward, 1984[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Pseudemys concinna gorzugi
    Ward, 1984
  • Pseudemys gorzugi
    Ernst, 1990

Geographic range edit

The Rio Grande cooter is found in the Rio Grande drainage of Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas), New Mexico, and Texas.[2][3]

Habitat edit

The preferred natural habitat of P. gorzugi is freshwater wetlands, at altitudes of 259–1,082 m (850–3,550 ft).[1][4]

Etymology edit

The specific name, gorzugi, is in honor of George R. Zug, the Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History.[5][6]

References edit

  1. ^ a b van Dijk PP (2011). "Pseudemys gorzugi (errata version published in 2016)". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T18459A97425928. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T18459A8297596.en. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Rhodin 2011, p. 000.181
  3. ^ a b Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 195. doi:10.3897/vz.57.e30895.
  4. ^ Species Pseudemys gorzugi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  5. ^ Beltz, Ellin (2006). Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America – Explained. ebeltz.net/herps/biogappx.html#B.
  6. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 104, 294).

External links edit

Further reading edit

  • Ernst CH (1990). "Pseudemys gorzugi Ward, Rio Grande Cooter". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (461): 1–2. (Pseudemys gorzugi, new status).
  • Ernst CH, Lovich JE (2009). Turtles of the United States and Canada, Second Edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xii + 827 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-9121-2. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 377–380).
  • Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Pseudemys gorzugi, pp. 214–215, Figure 95).
  • Ward JP (1984). "Relationships of the chrysemyd turtles of North America (Testudines: Emydidae)". Special Publications of the Museum of Texas Technological University 21: 1-50. (Pseudemys concinna gorzugi, new subspecies, p. 29, figure 6).