Order Testudines Natural History

Top to bottom plastron scutes

“Give him pizza and fries Andrew”

Top to bottom carapace scutes

Temperature dependent sex determination scale?

Low: Males

High: Females

Family Emydidae

• More terrestrial

• Smaller more domed carapace

• Hinged plastrons

Clemmys guttata

• Coastal plain

• Slow-moving water

• Females lay 1-3 clutches

• Often females have red eyes, and males have browns

Clemmys muhlenbergii

• Blue Ridge Wetlands above 750m

• Spring seeps, bogs, fens, wet meadows, and marshes

• Lay eggs in sphagnum mounds

• Diet: Insect, snails, salamander larvae, and plant matter

• Protected everywhere; endangered in GA (habitat loss)

Terrapene carolina

• Hinged plastron

• Often, males have red eyes, and females have brown

• Prefer moist forests with open areas, may frequent floodplains and stream sides

• 2-7 eggs per clutch

• Omnivorous

• In decline due to habitat loss

Subfamily Deirochelyinae

• More aquatic

• Characterized by skeletal traits

• Aquatic adaptations

Chrysemys picta

• Shallow water

• 2-14 eggs in clutches during summer months

• Diet: algae, aquatic inverts, fish, frogs

Deirochelys reticularia

• Carnivorous

• Fidelity to seasonal wetlands

  • Delay nesting to particularly warm days

  • 2 nesting spots 2 times (diapause)

• Ephemeral wetlands until dried

  • Bury in loamy soil and leaf litter uplands for most of their life

• Quick pace of life

• Negative pressure vacuum to suck prey in

Graptemys genus

• Sexually dimorphic

• Females

  • Larger

  • More plain

  • Larger heads and jaws

• Females eat snails and molluscs

• Males eat insects

Graptemys barbouri

• Coastal Plain

• Apalachicola and Choctawhatchee River systems

• Clear flowing rivers with limestone rock in Coastal Plain

• Granite bottomed streams towards Piedmont

• Rely on fallen trees and rocks for basking

• Vulnerable due to habitat loss

Graptemys geographica

• Ridge and Valley of GA

  • Conasauga river drainage

• Large bodies of water

• Diet: crawfish, snails, insect larvae, possibly small fish

Graptemys pulchra

• Lotic habitats (quickly moving)

• Ridge and Valley

  • Mobile Bay drainage basin

• Males and juveniles in shallower regions

• Females prefer deeper areas for cover

Malaclemys terrapin

• Coastal GA

• Brackish water

• Occasionally in ocean

Pseudemys

• Mostly herbivorous

• Large freshwater turtles

• Interbreeding can occur

Pseudemys concinna

• Large creeks and rivers

• Rocky shoals along fall line

• All GA except northeast and southeast corners

Pseudemys floridana

• Swampy wetlands below fall line

• Stack on top of each other on floating logs

• Main nest and satellite nest

Pseudemys nelsoni

• Florida & SE GA

• slow moving fresh water

• herbivorous adults

• shares nests with alligators

Trachemys scripta

• All GA except NE

• Wetlands & slow moving water in coastal plains & piedmont

• Nest terrestrially

• Migrate to escape drought

• Cometes with red-eared (invasive subspecies)

Family Trionychidae

• Thin aquatic turtles with long snouts; snorkels

• Males longer thicker tails

• Shell lacks boney exterior and scutes

  • This leathery skin instead

• Fast swimmers

• Burrow in mud/sand

• Hatchling sex genetic

Apalone ferox

• Coastal plains

  • Lakes, canals, springs, slow river sections

• 2 clutches of <24 eggs per year

• Live up to 25 years

• Lay eggs in alligator mounds

  • Cohabitate

• Most terrestrial softshell

• Diet mainly aquatic snails and insects

• Predators alligators and people

Apalone spinifera

• All regions of GA, only foothills in Blue Ridge

  • Clear streams w/ sand, rivers coastal plain

• Very aquatic, strong/fast swimmers

• Bask and burrow in shallows

• Mate underwater while swimming

• 12-18 eggs

• Live ~20 years

• Some gas exchange through skin

• Consume insects, crayfish, fish

• Predators: alligators, people, raccoons

Family: Chelydridae

• Flattened carapce + reduced plastron

• The snap when stressed

• Longest tails from all living turtles

• Aquatic lifestyle: bottom of lakes, swamps, and other calm waters

  • Webbed feet

• Males are bigger than females

• Hooked beaks

• TSD

Chelydra serpentina

• LONG NECKS

• Any permanent or semipermanent aquatic habitat

  • Rivers, streams swamps, isolated wetlands

• Territorial males, seen fighting

• Females excavate nests in open areas with loose soil

• Eggs may over-winter in nest, weather dependent

• 10-15 years to reach sexual maturity, live >40 yrs

• Predators: humans and alligators

Macrochelys temminckii/ suwanniensis

• Wait for prey and then snap

• Largest freshwater turtle

• Streams & rivers

• Mating occurs in water

• Leave water to nest

  • Up to 60 eggs

• Omnivores

  • Mainly predate on fish

• Only predators are humans- threatened

Order Crocodilia

• “Pebble worm”

• Closest living relative to dinosaurs

• 26 living species

Family Alligatoridae

• El lagarto

• Different from crocodiles

  • Broad vs sharp snout

  • Teeth and skull

Alligator mississippiensis

• Largest non-marine reptile in the USA

• South of fall line in brackish and freshwater habitats

  • Everywhere

• Sexes court using sight, hearing, touch, and smell

  • Head slapping and bellowing

• Nests near water, den underneath beneath bank

• Dormancy when water <55F stop eating when water <73F

• Dig “gator holes” as ponds dry yp, provide habitat for animals that would otherwise die

• Males ~13-15ft, females ~10

  • 600-1000lb

Genus Sternotherus

• Plastron small

• Single gular scute

• Pair barbells on chin

Sternotherus minor/ peltifer

• Inhabit rivers and creeks

• Largely carnivorous

  • aquatic insects

  • crayfish

Sternatherus odoratus

• Eastern US

• Shallow streams with little or no current

• nocturnal

• omnivorous

Kinosternon baurii

• omnivorous

• semi-terrestrial in dry conditions

• swamps, ponds, rivers below the fall line

  • avoid chattahoochee

Kinosternon subrubrum

Family testudinidae

• Domed shells

Gopherus ployphemus

• Dark scaly skin

• Largest native terrestrial turtle

• unhinged plastron

• large front legs and long flat nails

• Multiple burrows throughout the year

• Will eat low growing grasses but love succulent fruits

• Active May - Sept

• Keystone species

• long leaf pine & scrub oak

Cheloniidae

• Low dome shells with reduced plastron

• All forelimbs are flippers

• Marine with females coming to land to nest

• Omnivorous feeding on algae and animals

• Cannot retreat into shell

• Require conservation

Caretta caretta

• 170-351 lbs

• 75-112 in carapace

• Live to 60 years

• Bright reddish-orange/brown carapace

• Opportunistic omnivorous feeding on invertebrates on ocean floor

• Live all over world near shores

• Endangered

Chelonia mydas

• 88-125 cm in length

• Color can change with age and diet

• Short unhooked beak

• carnivorous at birth and then eat more algae as adults

• ~110 eggs at a time

Eretmochelys imbricata

• Consume sponges, coral, algae, jellyfish, urchins, fish, crustaceans

• Hunted nearly to extinction

• Commonly found in coral reefs

• Live 50-60 years

  • Mature 20-25

• 100-150 lbs

Lepidochelys kempii

• Routinely nests during the day

• Arribada nesting

  • Many females nest together

• 95% nesting occurs in Mexico

• 2-3 clutches every 1-3 years

  • ~100 eggs per chamber to incubate

• Diet: crabs

• Live to ~30

• One claw

Dermochelyidae

• Lack of hard shell and scales

Dermochelys coriacea

• Highly migratory

  • Up to 10,000 miles /year

• Eat jellyfish from the twilight zone

  • Longer flippers to travel so far

• Sexually mature at 9-20 years

• Clutch size ~100, incubate for 2 months

• 2m long & 1000lbs

  • Largest: 3m 15cm, 2120lbs

• All oceans

• Vulnerable