Texas spiny softshell turtle

Texas spiny softshell turtle
Conservation status
Apparently Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Trionychidae
Genus:	Apalone
Species:	A. spinifera
Subspecies:	A. s. emoryi
Trinomial name
Apalone spinifera emoryi (Agassiz, 1857)
Synonyms
List Aspidonectes emoryi Agassiz, 1857 Trionyx emoryi — Strauch, 1862 Aspidonectes emyda Gray, 1870 Aspidonectes georgii Gray, 1870 Platypeltis emoryii [sic] — Baur, 1893 (ex errore) Platypeltis emoryi — Siebenrock, 1909 Amyda emoryi — Stejneger & T. Barbour, 1917 Amyda emoryii — Strecker, 1927 Amyda ferox emoryi — Neill, 1951 Trionyx ferox emoryi — Schmidt, 1953 Trionyx spinifer emoryi — A. Schwartz, 1956 Trionyx spinifera emoryi — Minton, 1959 Trionyx spiniferus emoryi — Wermuth & Mertens, 1961 Trionyx spiniferus emoryir [sic] Honegger, 1982 (ex errore) Apalone spinifera emoryi — Ernst & R. Barbour, 1989 Apalone spinifera emoryi — Stubbs, 1989

The Texas spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera emoryi) is a subspecies of the spiny softshell turtle in the family Trionychidae. The subspecies is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northeastern Mexico.

Etymology

The subspecific name, emoryi, is in honor of United States Army officer and surveyor William Hemsley Emory.

Geographic range

A. s. emoryi is found in western Texas and New Mexico, in the Rio Grande and its immediate tributaries, and in the Mexican states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas.

Diet

In the Texas portion of the Pecos River, A. s. emoryi were found to be primarily insectivorous, feeding on coleopterans, hymenopterans, odonates, and orthopterans.

Further reading

• Agassiz L (1857). Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. li + 452 pp. (Aspidonectes emoryi, new species, pp. 407–408).
• Boulenger GA (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). New Edition. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). x + 311 pp. + Plates I–III. (Trionyx emoryi, p. 258).
• Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT 2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 color plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Apalone spinifera emoryi, p. 233).
• Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Roger, Bour (2011-12-31). "Turtles of the world, 2011 update: Annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution and conservation status" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-31.
• 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 (paperback), ISBN 0-307-47009-1 (hardcover). (Trionyx spiniferus emoryi, pp. 32–33).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. xiii + 533 pp., 56 color plates. ISBN 978-0-395-98272-3. (Trionyx spiniferus emoryi, p. 262).

External links

• Species Apalone spinifera at The Reptile Database

• Turtle Field Guide: Spiny Softshell Subspecies