Reproduction of the river cooter, Pseudemys concinna, in Arkansas andacross its range.

摘要

Pseudemys concinna has a complex and controversial taxonomic history (Seidel, 1994; Jackson, 1995; and Jackson and Walker, 1997); however, according to Seidel and Dreslik (1996) the species ranges from the Virginias and the northern peninsula of Florida to southeastern Kansas, central Oklahoma, and eastern Texas. Although reproductive data are available for several populations in the eastern half of its range (Alabama: Fahey, 1987; Florida: Jackson and Walker, 1997; South Carolina: Congdon and Gibbons, 1985; North Carolina: Palmer and Braswell, 1995; Virginia: Mitchell, 1994; and West Virginia: Seidel, 1981 and Buhlmann and Vaughn, 1991), available reproductive information from western populations of P. concinna comes from a single female from Tennessee (Cahn, 1937), 2 females from Oklahoma (Webb, 1970), 5 females from southern Louisiana mentioned in a taxonomic study (Fahey, 1980), a single nest in Illinois (Moll and Morris, 1991), and 2 populations in southern Missouri (Turner, 1995; R. B. Thomas, L. K. Turner, and D. Moll, in litt.).