The reason behind my lack of involvement the past few months

[tglazie]

Oh hey, look, another conversation that veered into the topic of water turtles in my backyard. Anyway, my two cents, that turtle is definitely a Rio Grande Red Ear, as Anthony put it. I've seen countless examples of egg laying females in their prime (like the one pictured) wandering about, seeking egg laying sites. I do believe that Anthony and Mark's "disagreement," if I may use such a term to describe it, originates from a misunderstanding of terms. In Phillipe de Vosjoli's book on keeping sliders, he repeatedly refers to Texas locality specific T.s.elegans as "ornate sliders." I've since seen this designation in numerous texts. This is a source of confusion, given the fact that Trachemys ornata, the Ornate Slider, is a mesoamerican form from Sinaloa, with a very different plastral pattern more similar to the various Psuedemys of south Texas, and a carapcial pattern with large, terra cotta loops that are quite unique among the enormously varied Trachemys genus. Having spent a good amount of time in Mexico, from Juarez to Pueblo, I can tell you that the mesoamerican form is quite different. I'm unaware of any integrades between the Texas form of T.s.elegans and T. ornata, though I have seen integrades between the Texas T.s.elegans and the neighboring Louisiana/Mississippi form, but just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't or can't exist.

But yeah, that one in the picture is definitely a south Texas T.s.elegans, aka a Rio Grande Red Ear, aka an ornate red eared slider.

T.G.

 

[tortadise]

Oh hey, look, another conversation that veered into the topic of water turtles in my backyard. Anyway, my two cents, that turtle is definitely a Rio Grande Red Ear, as Anthony put it. I've seen countless examples of egg laying females in their prime (like the one pictured) wandering about, seeking egg laying sites. I do believe that Anthony and Mark's "disagreement," if I may use such a term to describe it, originates from a misunderstanding of terms. In Phillipe de Vosjoli's book on keeping sliders, he repeatedly refers to Texas locality specific T.s.elegans as "ornate sliders." I've since seen this designation in numerous texts. This is a source of confusion, given the fact that Trachemys ornata, the Ornate Slider, is a mesoamerican form from Sinaloa, with a very different plastral pattern more similar to the various Psuedemys of south Texas, and a carapcial pattern with large, terra cotta loops that are quite unique among the enormously varied Trachemys genus. Having spent a good amount of time in Mexico, from Juarez to Pueblo, I can tell you that the mesoamerican form is quite different. I'm unaware of any integrades between the Texas form of T.s.elegans and T. ornata, though I have seen integrades between the Texas T.s.elegans and the neighboring Louisiana/Mississippi form, but just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't or can't exist.

But yeah, that one in the picture is definitely a south Texas T.s.elegans, aka a Rio Grande Red Ear, aka an ornate red eared slider.

T.G.

Awesome. Any sort of unique soft shells in your dealing down there by chance? I found a cadaver of what looked like a nile almost. It was unlike any soft shell I had seen in Texas wild. I don't have a photo. But it had a black carapace, and very little spots but they were blue. Specimen was about 7" SCL which led me to believe it was a juvenile or young specimen. For sure I am quite surprised every time I am down there at the wildlife. It's sad how much agriculture has destroyed natural areas. But I like how I'm going to try and change that at this place.

 

[tglazie]

Softshells in South Texas are incredibly varied, in my experience, and there needs to be more study regarding this. I've encountered two (maybe three) forms here, and I was never certain as to whether or not the variation was specific or a simple color variation within a single form. The dominant form is the Guadalupe Softshell, which has that beige ground color with various stripes and spots of gold. I've seen some very large examples of this type that had to have been at least twenty inches in length, big tan monsters rising from the deep only to disappear completely into the murk. The other two forms I see much less frequently, but when I do, they tend to be somewhat smaller (though again, I have seen gigantic versions of these as well, hence my confusion over the nature of the variation). One form is much like you describe, dark mahogany, essentially black carapace, small spots of an iridescent teal/blue. Most of the animals I've fished out of various canals are juveniles, something in the area of four to eight inches, but on a few occasions, I've relocated some large females that pressed the fourteen inch mark. The pattern tends to fade to a more or less uniform blackish brown in the older specimens, but two males that I've encountered, both measuring around ten inches in length, maintained the unusual pattern coloration. There is a third form that I've only encountered a handful of times, and that is a flesh colored form with black spots. The larger adults tend to maintain this peach color, and I've seen one large female, around sixteen inches in length, that was pure flesh colored, no spots. Their eyes are also different than the other forms, keeping this dark army green color, as opposed to the gold or light olive.

Now, I've never kept any of these in captivity for any extended period. I've certainly never reproduced them, so I have no idea if these variations are simply the result of divergent traits within a single species or if we're seeing something akin to the Psuedemys/Chrysemys/Trachemys effect here, where multiple species of softshell are occupying the same environment. Unfortunately, like you said, environmental degradation via agriculture and boundless human development is making this all the more difficult to know. This could very well be a case where unique species previously undescribed are being lost before they even have a chance to be described.

T.G.