Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (BOUR, 1973)
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Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei
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| Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelinae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Vanderhaege’s Toadhead Turtle Portuguese: Cágado, Cágado-Cabeçudo, Galápago, Tartaruga-Cabeça-de-Sapo |
| Synonym | Phrynops schopfii “FITZINGER” DIERING (nomen nudum) Phrynops paraguayensis “VANZOLINI” DONOSO-BARROS (nomen nudum) Phrynops tuberculatus vanderhaegei BOUR 1973: 184 Phrynops vanderhaegei — PRITCHARD 1979 Phrynops (Batrachemys) vanderhaegei — ALDERTON 1988 Bufocephala vanderhaegei — MCCORD et al. 2001 Bufocephala vanderhaegei — MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002 Bufocephala vanderhaegei — SOUZA 2004 Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei — BOUR & ZAHER 2005 Bufocephala (Phrynops) vanderhaegei — BONIN et al 2006 Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei — VAN DIJK et al. 2011 Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei — TTWG 2021 Mesoclemmys sabiniparaensis CUNHA, SAMPAIO, CARNEIRO, VOGT, MITTERMEIER, RHODIN & ANDRADE 2022 |
| Distribution | Paraguay (rivers and swamps), Argentina (Misiones [HR 31: 184], NE Corrientes), Brazil (Goias, Mato Grosso do Sul, Snao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Tocantins) Type locality: “les environs d’Asunción au Paraguay”; restricted to “Tobati, La Cordillera, Paraguay” by Bour & Pauler 1987. sabiniparaensis: Brazil (Pará); Type locality: A lotic pool in a clearwater perennial stream (igarapé) with a sandy and rocky bottom in riparian forest, near Serra das Andorinhas State Park, municipality of São Geraldo do Araguaia, state of Pará, Brazil. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: MNHN-RA 1977.0050 Holotype: MPEG-H1251, whole, liquid-preserved subadult female (CL 119.7 mm). Collected 30 October 2011 from a clearwater stream using a hoop trap. Deposited in the herpetological collection of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil [sabiniparaensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus Bufocephala). A toadhead turtle of the family Chelidae distinguished by having a generally blackish head in adults (as.in M. gibba and B. heliostemma); a medium-sized head (as in R. rufipes and P. geoffroanus); a horizontal "bar" in the iris of the eye [= iris] (as in B. dahli and B. zuliae); nose pointed (as in all toadheads except the P. geoffroanus complex); small barbels (as in all toadheads but R. hogei, and the P. geoffroanus complex); parietal roof width moderate, as in no other toadhead; reduced neural series (as in all toadheads [R. hogei ?]but the P. geoffroanus complex and R. rufipes), but unique in having a usually discontiguous series, often with a first neural present, that does not touch the proneural; intergular wider than gulars (as in all toadheads but R. hogei, P. geoffroanus, B. tuberculata and B. heliostemma); plastral seam formula starts with IG>IF>Iab (as in B. dahli, B. raniceps, B. nasuta, B. heliostemma, and sometimes M. gibba and P. geoffroanus); the carapace is mildly domed (unique to B. vanderhaegei); no carapacial median keel (as in all toadheads but R. rufipes and M. gibba); carapacial median groove present in adults (as in all toadheads but R. rufipes and M. gibba); 11th marginals narrower than 12th (as in R. hogei, R. rufipes and M. gibba); the antero-medial distal tibial scale moderately developed (as in B. dahli and P. geoffroanus); the lateral marginal scutes upturned (as in all toadheads but R. rufipes and P. geoffroanus, but with Bufocephala the upturn is "sharp", as in M. gibba, R. hogei, B. dahli, B. zuliae and B. tuberculata); there is obvious narrowing of the lateral marginals of the carapace, a unique condition among toadheads; plastron generally black with yellow background (as in many M. gibba, and similar to that in B. raniceps, B. nasuta and B. heliostemma); axillary scutes absent in the Paraguayan population (as in R. rufipes, B. zuliae, and sometimes B. nasuta and B. dahli). The chelid foramen is present (Bour and Pauler 1987, MCord et al. 2001). |
| Comment | Type Species: Phrynops tuberculatus vanderhaegei BOUR 1973 is the type species of the genus Bufocephala MCCORD et al. 2001. MCCORD et al. 2001 included only vanderhaegei in Bufocephala. Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps) Color illustration: MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002. Distribution: for map see MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2002. Synonymy: Mesoclemmys sabiniparaensis was synonymized with vanderhaegei by Gallego-García et al. 2023. |
| Etymology | Named after Maurice Vanderhaege, a cheloniophile and expert in breeding reptiles in terraria. M. sabiniparaensis was named after Andrew Sabin, in recognition of his valuable contributions to species conservation, most especially for endangered amphibians and turtles, and to the protection wildlife habitats around the world. The second part of the epithet, -paraensis, refers to the Brazilian state of Pará where the species was discovered. The state of Par´a, one of the 27 comprising the República Federativa do Brasil, is the second-largest state of the country. The origin of the name Pará is from the indigenous language of the Tupi-guarani: ‘‘Pará’’ meaning river-sea, their name for the Pará River, a right-bank tributary of the Amazonas River, which, when mixing with the Tocantins River, produces a body of water so large it is not possible to see the opposite bank. On the arrival of the Portuguese, the province was given the name of Grão-Pará, eventually shortened to Pará. |
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