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Pseudemys gorzugi WARD, 1984

IUCN Red List - Pseudemys gorzugi - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaEmydidae, Deirochelyinae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rio Grande Cooter, Western River Cooter
S: Tortuga de Oreja Amarilla 
SynonymPseudemys concinna gorzugi WARD 1984
Pseudemys concinna gorzugi — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 211
Pseudemys gorzugi — ERNST 1990
Pseudemys gorzugi — LINER 1994
Pseudemys concinna gorzugi — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 67
Pseudemys gorzugi — CROTHER 2000
Pseudemys concinna gorzugi — OBST 2003: 16
Pseudemys gorzugi — ERNST & LOVICH 2009
Pseudemys gorzugi — TTWG 2021 
DistributionMexico ((Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas), USA (isolated populations in S New Mexico and adjacent Texas)

Type locality: 3 1/2 mi. W Jimenez, Río San Diego, Coahuila, México, 850 feet [elevation].  
Reproduction 
TypesHolotype: KU 39986. Paratypes: KU 15929, 39985; TTU 7347; and UU 4097–98, 4106–07, 4110, USNM. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. A subspecies of Pseudemys concinna differing from other subspecies by: 1) pleural Il pattern of five distinct whorls of concentric black and yellow ocelli enclosed in a thick, yellow framework—P. c. hieroglyphica, P. c. concinna, and P. c. suwanniensis have thin, vermiculate patterns sometimes enclosing four ocellate figures; 2) lateral head stripe separated from orbit by small oval yellow spot; 3) inguinal scute very large, anteriorly nearly approaching the pectoral-abdominal seam; 4) skull with lower alveolar shelf width 19 to 20 per cent of skull length, 88 to 98 of coronoid height, skull width 75 to 83 of length, nares width 17 to 19 of skull length, coronoid height 26 to 30 of mandible length, upper alveolar shelf width 23 to 25 of skull length; mandible length 69 to 77 of skull length, orbit length 30 to 34 of skull length, temporal fossa length 81 to 85 of total skull length; 5) shell with interhumeral seam length 65 to 85 per cent of the interfemoral seam length; interpectoral seam 19 to 22 of plastron length; 6) plastron with thin, dark brown or black lines with irregular sides following the interscute seams on each scute but about twice the width of the line from the seam, never forming a complex figure or circular whorls. (Ward 1984)


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CommentNot listed by King & Burke 1989.

Diet: herbivorous.

Habitat: freshwater (lakes, ponds, rivers)

Synonymy: Ernst & Barbour 1989 considered the status of gorzugi as questionable and hence did not list it as valid species or subspecies. 
EtymologyThe name gorzugi is a patronym honoring Smithsonian Institution herpetologist Dr. George R. Zug. For biographical details see Mitchell 2018. 
References
  • Bartlett, R. D. & Bartlett, P. 1999. A Field Guide to Texas Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, 331 pp.
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  • Brush, John, Brush, Timothy, Oyervides, Mayra and Forstner, Michael R. J. 2017. Geographic Distribution: Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter). Herpetological Review 48 (1): 124 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
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  • Curtis, J., et al. 2017. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Hatchling movement. Herpetological Review 48 (2): 426 - get paper here
  • Degenhardt, William G.; C. W. Painter, and A. H. Price 1996. Amphibians and reptiles of New Mexico. Univ. New Mexico Press, 431 pp.
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  • Letter, Andrew W.; Korry J. Waldon, Darren A. Pollock and Ivana Mali 2019. Dietary Habits of Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) from Two Sites within the Black River, Eddy County, New Mexico, USA. Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 204 - get paper here
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