Kinosternidae

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Kinosternidae | image = Sternotherus_odoratus.jpg | image_size = 240px | image_caption = Common Musk Turtle, Sternotherus odoratus | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Reptilia | subclassis = Anapsida | ordo = Testudines | subordo = Cryptodira | superfamilia = Kinosternoidea | familia = Kinosternidae | familia_authority = Agassiz, 1857 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = Kinosternon
Sternotherus
Claudius (genus)
Staurotypus
}}

Kinosternidae is a family of mostly small turtles that includes the mud and musk turtles. The family Kinosternidae contains 25 species within 4 genera, but taxonomic reclassification is an ongoing process so many sources vary on the exact numbers of species and subspecies. They inhabit slow-moving bodies of water, often with soft bottoms and abundant vegetation.

Contents 1 Description 2 Diet 3 Reproduction 4 Taxonomy 5 References

Description

Most kinosternids are small turtles, between 4 and 6 inches with a heavily domed shell that has a distinct keel down its center. The genus Staurotypus gets much larger, to 12". Females are generally larger than males, but males have a much longer tail. They can be brown, green, or yellowish in color. Most species do not have shell markings, but some species have radiating black markings on each carapace scute. Some species have distinctive yellow striping along the sides of their head.

The musk turtles are so named because they are capable of releasing a foul smelling musk when disturbed. They are native to North and South America.

Diet

All members of the family are carnivores, feeding on crustaceans, aquatic insects, mollusks, annelids, amphibians, small fish, and sometimes carrion.

Reproduction

Kinosternids lay approximately four hard-shelled eggs during the late spring and early summer. After hatching, some species overwinter in the subterranean nest, emerging the following spring. Some adults also spend the winter on land, constructing a burrow with a small air hole that is used on warm days.

Kinosternids contain the only species of turtle known, or at least suspected, to exhibit parental care. Studies of the yellow mud turtle in Nebraska, USA, suggest females sometimes stay with the nest and may urinate on the eggs long after laying to either keep them moist or to protect them from snake predation (by making them less palatable).

Taxonomy

Family Kinosternidae
Subfamily Kinosterninae

• Genus Kinosternon

• Tabasco Mud Turtle, Kinosternon acutum (Gray, 1831)
• Alamos Mud Turtle, Kinosternon alamosae (Berry & Legler, 1980)
• Central American Mud Turtle, Kinosternon angustipons (Legler, 1965)
• Striped Mud Turtle, Kinosternon baurii (Garman, 1891)
• Kinosternon chimalhuaca (Berry, Seidel, & Iverson, 1997)
• Creaser's Mud Turtle, Kinosternon creaseri (Hartweg, 1934)
• Red-cheeked Mud Turtle, Kinosternon cruentatum

• Kinosternon cruentatum cruentatum (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1851)
• Kinosternon cruentatum consors (Stejneger, 1941)

Image:Kinosternon subrubrum.jpg

• Colombian Mud Turtle, Kinosternon dunni (Schmidt, 1947)
• Yellow Mud Turtle, Kinosternon flavescens

• Kinosternon flavescens flavescens (Agassiz, 1857)
• Kinosternon flavescens arizonense (Gilmore, 1922)
• Kinosternon flavescens durangoense (Iverson, 1979)
• Kinosternon flavescens stejnegeri (Hartweg, 1938)

• Herrara's Mud Turtle , Kinosternon herrerai (Stejneger, 1945)
• Mexican Mud Turtle, Kinosternon hirtipes

• Kinosternon hirtipes hirtipes (Wagler, 1830)
• Big Bend Mud Turtle, Kinosternon hirtipes murrayi (Glass & Hartweg, 1951)
• Kinosternon hirtipes chapalense (Iverson, 1981)
• Kinosternon hirtipes magdalense (Iverson, 1981)
• Kinosternon hirtipes megacephalum (Iverson, 1981)
• Kinosternon hirtipes tarascae (Iverson, 1981)
• Kinosternon hirtipes tarascense (Iverson, 1981)

• Mexican Mud Turtle, Kinosternon integrum (Le Conte, 1854)
• White-lipped Mud Turtle, Kinosternon leucostomum

• Kinosternon leucostomum leucostomum (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1851)
• Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale (Cope, 1887)

• Oaxaca Mud Turtle, Kinosternon oaxacae (Berry & Iverson, 1980)

Image:Sternotherus carinatus.jpg

• Scorpion Mud Turtle, Kinosternon scorpioides

• Kinosternon scorpioides scorpioides (Linnaeus, 1766)
• Kinosternon scorpioides abaxillare (Baur, 1925)
• Kinosternon scorpioides albogulare (Duméril & Bocourt, 1870)
• Kinosternon scorpioides carajasensis (Cunha, 1970)
• Kinosternon scorpioides integrum (Le Conte, 1854)
• Kinosternon scorpioides pachyurum (Müller & Hellmich, 1936)
• Kinosternon scorpioides panamense (Schmidt, 1946)
• Kinosternon scorpioides seriei (Freiberg, 1936)

• Kinosternon sonoriense

• Sonoyta Mud Turtle, Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale (Iverson, 1981)
• Sonoran Mud Turtle, Kinosternon sonoriense sonoriense (Le Conte, 1854)

• , Kinosternon spurrelli (Boulenger, 1913)
• , 'Kinosternon subrubrum

• Eastern Mud Turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum (Lacépède, 1788)
• Mississippi Mud Turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis (Gray, 1855)
• Florida Mud Turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum steindachneri (Siebenrock, 1906)

• Genus Sternotherus

• Razorback Musk Turtle, Sternotherus carinatus (Gray, 1855)
• Flattened Musk Turtle, Sternotherus depressus (Tinkle & Webb, 1955)
• Loggerhead Musk Turtle, Sternotherus minor (Agassiz, 1857)
• Common Musk Turtle or Stinkpot, Sternotherus odoratus (Sonnini & Latreille, 1802)

Subfamily Staurotypinae

• Genus Claudius

• Narrow-bridged Musk Turtle, Claudius angustatus (Cope, 1865)

• Genus Staurotypus

• Chiapus Giant Musk Turtle, Staurotypus salvinii (Gray, 1864)
• Mexican Giant Musk Turtle, Staurotypus triporcatus (Wiegmann, 1828)

References

• Animal Diversity Web: Family Kinosternidae, by Keith Pecorde:Schlammschildkröten

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