Loggerhead musk turtle
Hatchling loggerhead musk turtle
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Kinosternidae
Genus: Sternotherus
Species:
S. minor
Binomial name
Sternotherus minor
(Agassiz, 1857)
Synonyms[1]
  • Goniochelys minor
    Agassiz, 1857
  • Aromochelys minor
    — Strauch, 1862
  • Sternotherus minor
    — Stejneger, 1923
  • Sternotherus carinatus minor
    — Carr, 1952
  • Sternotherus minor minor
    — Tinkle & Webb, 1955
  • Sternothaerus minor minor
    — Tinkle, 1958
  • Sternotheraerus minor minor
    — Wharton & Howard, 1971
  • Kinosternon minor
    — Iverson, Ernst, Gotte & Lovich, 1989
  • Kinosternon minor minor
    — Ernst & R. Barbour, 1989

The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor) is a species of turtle in the family Kinosternidae. This turtle has a large head which has a light-colored background with dark spots or stripes present on the head and neck.[2] The average size of an adult loggerhead musk turtle is about 3–5 in (7.6–12.7 cm) in straight carapace length.[2]

The species is native to the southern United States, being found in rivers, wetlands, and streams in the states of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.[3][4][5] The diet of an adult loggerhead musk turtles consists mostly of clams and snails.[6][7]

As of 2016 the conservation status of the loggerhead musk turtle is "Least Concern", and its common threats include habitat loss and human interactions such as car or boating accidents.[4]

Description

The loggerhead musk turtle gets its common name from its unusually large head, compared to the common musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus).[8] Its head has a light-colored background with dark spots/stripes. Hatchlings are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in straight carapace length and grow up to around 3 to 5 inches (about 8 to 13 cm) by adulthood.[2][9] Juveniles have three keels on the carapace that usually disappear by adulthood.[2][9] The loggerhead musk turtle has barbels present on the chin only, not on the throat.[8][2]


Geographic distribution

S. minor is found in freshwaters of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.[3][4]It occurs in the Ogeechee, Altamaha, and Apalachicola river systems.[9][10] It shares parts of its range in southeast Alabama, west Florida, and west Georgia with the stripeneck musk turtle (Sternotherus peltifer), and both species can be found in rivers such as the Choctawhatchee and Perdido.[9][10]

Closeup of head of an adult Sternotherus minor

Habitat

S. minor lives in clean freshwater habitats such as springs, streams, runs, wetlands, ponds, and rivers.[5][4]

Diet

The diet of the loggerhead musk turtle changes as it grows. Younger turtles have a more varied diet, eating insects, snails, crayfish, and clams while adults eat mostly snails and clams since adults are larger.[6][7]

Freshwater snail

The loggerhead musk turtle forages in streams with sandy or vegetated bottoms with varying speeds of currents.[7] It spends most of its time in the water with less time spent basking out in the sun than is observed in other species.[11]

Reproduction

S. minor is oviparous.[5] Between August and June, females can lay up to five clutches with one to four eggs per clutch.[11][12] Larger females tend to have larger eggs and more eggs per clutch.[11] Females lay their eggs on the shore, in holes 8–15 cm (3.1–5.9 in) deep.[11] Hatchlings typically have a carapace length of 2.47 cm (0.97 in).[11]

Mating Behavior

In the wild, mating takes place underwater in shaded areas.[12] Males exhibit several different behaviors during the mating process including: cloacal sniffing, bridge sniffing, mounting, following the female, biting, moving the head from one side to the other, and interlocking of tails.[13]

Conservation and Threats

The IUCN has listed the loggerhead musk turtle as an animal of least concern.[4]

Some common threats to this turtle include habitat loss, negative interactions with humans, such as being killed by cars or boats or dying after biting fish hooks, and indirect threats such as threats to their food sources.[4] While this turtle is vulnerable to habitat loss, many waterways within its range are protected by Florida state law. Florida list it as a protected species.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 262–263. ISSN 1864-5755. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Buhlmann, Kurt A.; Tuberville, Tracey; Gibbons, Whit (2008). Turtles of the Southeast. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-2902-4. OCLC 263712429.
  3. 1 2 Species Sternotherus minor at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 van Dijk, P.P. (2011). "Sternotherus minor (errata version published in 2016)". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T170493A6781671.en. Accessed on 03 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Powell, Robert; Conant, Roger; Collins, Joseph T. (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America (Fourth ed.). Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. OCLC 913923783.
  6. 1 2 Pfaller, Joseph Bryce (2009). "Bite-Force Generation and Feeding Biomechanics in the Loggerhead Musk Turtle, Sternotherus minor : Implications for the Ontogeny of Performance". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. 1 2 3 Cox, William A.; Wyatt, Steven T.; Wilhelm, Walter E.; Marion, Ken R. (December 1988). "Infection of the Turtle, Sternotherus minor, by the Lung Fluke, Heronimus mollis: Incidence of Infection and Correlations to Host Life History and Ecology in a Florida Spring". Journal of Herpetology. 22 (4): 488. doi:10.2307/1564348. ISSN 0022-1511. JSTOR 1564348.
  8. 1 2 Conant, Roger (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America (Second ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-19979-4. OCLC 1423604.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Conant, Roger; Collins, Joseph T. (1998). A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America (Third ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-90452-7.
  10. 1 2 Iverson, John B. (1977-08-25). "Geographic Variation in the Musk Turtle, Sternotherus minor ". Copeia. 1977 (3): 502–517. doi:10.2307/1443269. ISSN 0045-8511. JSTOR 1443269.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Cox, William A.; Marion, Ken R. (1978). "Observations on the female reproductive cycle and associated phenomena in spring-dwelling populations of Sternotherus minor in North Florida (Reptilia: Testudines)". Herpetologica: 20–33 – via JSTOR.
  12. 1 2 Cox, William A.; Nowak, Martin C.; Marion, Ken R. (1980-06-06). "Observations on Courtship and Mating Behavior in the Musk Turtle, Sternotherus minor ". Journal of Herpetology. 14 (2): 200. doi:10.2307/1563862. ISSN 0022-1511. JSTOR 1563862.
  13. ↑ Bels, Vincent L.; Crama, Yves J.-M. (1994-08-17). "Quantitative Analysis of the Courtship and Mating Behavior in the Loggerhead Musk Turtle Sternotherus minor (Reptilia: Kinosternidae) with Comments on Courtship Behavior in Turtles". Copeia. 1994 (3): 676. doi:10.2307/1447183. ISSN 0045-8511. JSTOR 1447183.

Further reading

  • Agassiz L (1857). Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. li + 452 pp. (Goniochelys minor, new species, p. 424).
  • Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. ISBN 0-394-50824-6. (Sternotherus minor, p. 444 + Plates 311–312).
  • Ernst CH, Lovich JE (2009). Turtles of the United States and Canada (2 ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. pp. 519–525. ISBN 978-0-8018-9121-2.
  • McCoy CJ, Bianculli AV, Vogt RC (1978). "Sternotherus minor in the Pascagoula River system, Mississippi". Herpetological Review 9 (3): 109.
  • Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3. (Sternotherus minor, pp. 28–29).
  • Smith HM, Glass BP (1947). "A new musk turtle from the southeastern United States". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 37 (1): 22–24. (Sternotherus peltifer, new species).

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Data related to Sternotherus minor at Wikispecies.

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