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Mesoclemmys gibba (SCHWEIGGER, 1812)

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Higher TaxaChelidae, Chelinae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Gibba (Toadhead) Turtle
G: Buckelschildkröte
Portuguese: Cágado, Cágado-de-Poças, Cágado-de-Poças-da-Floresta 
SynonymEmys gibba SCHWEIGGER 1812
Platemys Miliusii DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 431
Platemys Gibba — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 416
Hydraspis gordoni GRAY 1868: 563
Hydraspis bicolor GRAY 1873
Mesoclemmys gibba — GRAY 1873: 305
Hydraspis gibba — BOULENGER 1889
Mesoclemmys gibba — SIEBENROCK 1905
Phrynops gibbus — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977
Phrynops (Mesoclemmys) gibba — GAFFNEY 1977
Mesoclemmys gibba — DUELLMAN 1978: 192
Phrynops (Mesoclemmys) gibbus — ALDERTON 1988
Phrynops gibbus — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Mesoclemmys gibba — MCCORD et al. 2001
Mesoclemmys gibbus — MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002
Phrynops gibbus — LEHR 2002: 71
Mesoclemmys gibba — HENNIG 2004
Mesoclemmys gibba — BOUR & ZAHER 2005
Mesoclemmys (Phrynops) gibba — BONIN et al 2006
Mesoclemmys gibba — RIVAS et al. 2012
Mesoclemmys gibba — TTWG 2021 
DistributionC/NE Peru, E Ecuador, SE Colombia,
SW/NE Venezuela (Sierra Nevada de merida), Trinidad,
Guyana, Suriname, Brazil (Roraima, Mato Grosso, Pará, Amapá)

Type locality: “Patria ignota (= locality unknown); Designated as “Amérique méridionale” (= South America) by Duméril & Duméril 1851: 20. Restricted to near “Cayenne, Guyane francaise” by Bour & Pauler 1987: 7.  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 8756 
DiagnosisDiagnosis and Description (genus). The genus Mesoclemmys is part of the toadhead complex of chelid turtles with the following characteristics: A head width between the tympana 15-20% of the median straight length of the carapace. Three to four neural bones (sometimes none) are usually present. The first neural bone is absent, allowing the fírst costals to contact medially. Tbe neurals, when present, may or may not be in a contiguous row. The nuchal reaches the anterior margin of the carapace. There is no large, round scale present distally on the antero-medial row of tibial scales. The 11lth marginal is narrower than the supracaudals. The lateral borders of the carapace narrow mildly, with a strong upward curve. The vertebrals are arched, with the median keel on vertebrals 3, 4, and 5 poorly developed. The anterior end of the plastron is equal to or wider than the posterior end. The interanal plastral seam is shorter than the interhumeral seam. The dorsum of the head is covered by many small seales. The paired barbels are short to medium in size (McCord et al. 2001). 
CommentIllustration: see MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002.

Type Species: Emys gibba SCHWEIGGER 1812 is the type species of the genus Mesoclemmys GRAY 1873. For a diagnosis of the genus see MCCORD et al. 2001.

Distribution: the report of M. raniceps from Peru (FERRONATO et al. 2011) is actually based on a misidentified M. gibba [see erratum to this paper]. For a distribution map see MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002. Not in Paraguay (fide Cacciali et al. 2016).

Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps) 
EtymologyNamed after Greek, mesos for "middle" or "in between", and Greek, klemmys for "turtle." The "intermediate turtle", "between Hydraspis and Platemys," according to Gray, 1873b:305. 
References
  • Auguste, Renoir J.; Rainer Deo, Zakariyya Ali 2019. Two Additional Site Records of the Elusive Gibba Turtle Mesoclemmys gibba (Schweigger 1812) fromTrinidad, W.I. Living World 2019: 43-44 - get paper here
  • Bernarde, Paulo Sérgio;, Reginaldo Assêncio Machado & Luiz Carlos Batista Turci 2011. Herpetofauna da área do Igarapé Esperança na Reserva Extrativista Riozinho da Liberdade, Acre – Brasil. Biota Neotropica 11 (3): 117-144 - get paper here
  • Bonin, F., Devaux, B. & Dupré, A. 2006. Turtles of the World. English translation by P.C.H. Pritchard. Johns Hopkins University Press, 416 pp.
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  • Bour, R. & Pauler, I. 1987. Identité de Phrynops vanderhaegei Bour 1973 et des espèces affines. Mésogée 47: 3-23
  • Bour, R. & Zaher, H. 2005. A NEW SPECIES OF MESOCLEMMYS, FROM THE OPEN FORMATIONS OF NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL (CHELONII, CHELIDAE). Pap. Avul. Zool., Sao Paulo 45 (24): 295-311 - get paper here
  • Brito, E. S. de, Fagundes, C. K., Strüssmann, C., Pignati, M. T. & Vogt, R. C. 2012. Geographic distribution: Mesoclemmys gibba (Gibba turtle). Herpetological Review 43: 442 - get paper here
  • Brito, E.S.; C. Strüssmann; R.A. Kawashita-Ribeiro; D.H. Morais; R.W. Ávila; V.A. Campos. 2012. New records and distribution extensions of three species of Mesoclemmys Gray, 1863 (Testudines: Chelidae) in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, with observations on terrestrial movements. Check List 8(2):294-297 - get paper here
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  • Duméril, A.M.C. & A. H. A. Duméril 1851. Catalogue méthodique de la collection des reptiles du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Gide et Baudry/Roret, Paris, 224 pp.
  • Duméril, A.M.C., and G. Bibron. 1835. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles, Vol. 2. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 680 p. - get paper here
  • Ernst, C H 1981. Phrynops gibbus (Schweigger). Keeled-back sideneck turtle. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 279: 1-2 - get paper here
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  • Gaffney, Eugene S. 1977. The side-necked turtle family Chelidae: a theory of relationships using shared derived characters. American Museum Novitates (2620): 1-28 - get paper here
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  • Gray, J. E. 1873. Observations on chelonians, with descriptions of new genera and species. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 11: 289-308 - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1868. Notice of Hydraspis gordoni, a new species from Trinidad, living in the Gardens of the Society. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1868: 563 - get paper here
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  • Hennig, A.S. 2004. Haltung von Wasserschildkröten. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 125 pp. - get paper here
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  • MOLINA, FLAVIO B.; FABIO A. MACHADO & HUSSAM ZAHER 2012. Taxonomic validity of Mesoclemmys heliostemma (McCord, Joseph-Ouni & Lamar, 2001) (Testudines, Chelidae) inferred from morphological analysis. Zootaxa 3575: 63–77 - get paper here
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