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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
Pseudemys gorzugi — TTWG 2025 
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.

Distribution: see map in TTWG 2025. 
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.
  • BASSETT, LAWRENCE G.; IVANA MALI, WESTON H. NOWLIN, DANIEL H. FOLEY & MICHAEL R.J. FORSTNER. 2022. Diet and Isotopic Niche of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) and Syntopic Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) in San Felipe Creek, Texas, USA. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 21(2): 199–211. - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • BOHANNON, AUSTIN M.A.; LAWRENCE G. BASSETT, SHASHWAT SIRSI, ANDREW R. MACLAREN, DANIEL H. FOLEY, SARAH R. FRITTS, LAURA R. PHARR & MICHAEL R.J. FORSTNER. 2022. Reproductive Characteristics of Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) in Western Texas. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 21(2): 246–255. - get paper here
  • Bour, R. 2008. Global diversity of turtles (Chelonii; Reptilia) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:593–598 - get paper here
  • 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.
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • 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.
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • Ernst, C H 1990. Pseudemys gorzugi Ward. Rio Grande cooter. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 461: 1-2 - get paper here
  • Ernst, Carl H.; Lovich, Jeffrey E. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada, 2nd edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 827 pp. - get paper here
  • Giermakowski, J. Tomasz and Pierce, Leland J. S. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter). Herpetological Review 47 (4): 626 - get paper here
  • Hernandez, T O; Herr, M W; Trevino, A E; Lazcano, D; Black, M & Graham, S P 2018. Geographic Distribution: Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter). Herpetological Review 49 (3): 502 - get paper here
  • Hibbitts, Troy D. and Terry L. Hibbitts 2016. Texas Turtles & Crocodilians: a Field Guide. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. xvi + 276 pp., 117 photos, 36 maps. ISBN 978-1477307779. - get paper here
  • Lazcano D, Nevárez-de los Reyes M, García-Padilla E, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva V, DeSantis DL, Wilson LD. 2019. The herpetofauna of Coahuila, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2) [General Section]: 31–94 (e189) - get paper here
  • Legler, J.M.& Vogt, R.C. 2013. The Turtles of Mexico: Land and Freshwater Forms. University of California Press, 416 pp. - get paper here
  • Letter, A.W., Waldon, K.J., Mali, I. & Reams, R.D. 2017. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Maximum clutch size. Herpetological Review 48 (4): 836-837 - get paper here
  • 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
  • MacLaren, Andrew R., Foley, Dan H., Sirsi, Shashwat and Forstner, Michael R. J. 2017. Updating methods of satellite transmitter attachment for long-term monitoring of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi). Herpetological Review 48 (1): 48-52 - get paper here
  • MacLaren, Andrew R., Sirsi, Shashwat, Foley, Daniel H., III and Forstner, Michael R. J. 2017. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Long distance dispersal. Herpetological Review 48 (1): 180-181 - get paper here
  • MAHAN, L. B., T. SURIYAMONGKOL, AND I. MALI 2020. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter). Diet. Herpetological Review 51: 113.
  • McCord, W.P., Joseph-Ouni, M. & Uhrig, D. 2005. Chelonian Illustrations # 23 - Red-bellied and River Cooters of North America. Reptilia (GB) (43): 79- - get paper here
  • Mirabal, J; Letter, A W; Waldon, K J & Mali, I 2018. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Attraction to trap baits. Herpetological Review 49 (2): 323-324 - get paper here
  • Mitchell, Joseph C. 2018. George Robert Zug. Copeia 106 (2): 388-395 - get paper here
  • Nevárez-de-los-Reyes, Manuel, David Lazcano, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The Herpetofauna of Nuevo León, Mexico: Composition, Distribution, and Conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (3): 558–638 - get paper here
  • Obst, F.J. 2003. Sumpfschildkröten. Draco 4 (13): 4-18 - get paper here
  • Pierce, L.J.S., Stuart, J.N., Ward, J.P., and Painter, C.W. 2016. Pseudemys gorzugi Ward 1984 – Rio Grande Cooter, Western River Cooter, Tortuga de Oreja Amarilla, Jicotéa del Río Bravo. Chelonian Research Monographs 5(9):100.1–12. doi: 10.3854/crm.5.100.gorzugi.v1.2016 - get paper here
  • Reynolds, Robert P.; Steve W. Gotte, and Carl H. Ernst 2007. Catalog of Type Specimens of Recent Crocodilia and Testudines in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 626: 1-49 - get paper here
  • Salas, Eric Ariel L.; Virginia A. Seamster, Nicole M. Harings, Kenneth G. Boykin, Guillermo Alvarez, and Keith W. Dixon 2017. Projected Future Bioclimate-Envelope Suitability for Reptile and Amphibian Species of Concern in South Central USA. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 12 (2): 522–547. - get paper here
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  • Seidel, M. E. 1994. Morphometric analysis and taxonomy of cooter and red-bellied turtles in the North American genus Pseudemys (Emydidae). Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 1 (2): 117-130
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  • Sirsi, S; MacLaren, A R; Bohannon, A M A; Foley, D H, III & Forstner, M R J; 2019. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Resolution of prolapse. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 355-356 - get paper here
  • Sirsi, Shashwat, MacLaren, Andrew R., Foley, Daniel H., III and Forstner, Michael R. J. 2017. Pseudemys gorzugi (Rio Grande Cooter) Duration of prolapse. Herpetological Review 48 (1): 180 - get paper here
  • Spinks, Phillip Q.; Robert C. Thomson, Gregory B. Pauly, Catherine E. Newman, Genevieve Mount, H. Bradley Shaffer 2013. Misleading phylogenetic inferences based on single-exemplar sampling in the turtle genus Pseudemys. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68 (2): 269-281 - get paper here
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  • Suriyamongkol, Thanchira & Ivana Mali 2019. Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) on the Black River, New Mexico. Chelonian Conservation and Biology Dec 2019 Vol. 18, No. 2: 187-194 - get paper here
  • Suriyamongkol, Thanchira and Ivana Mali 2018. Feasibility of Using Computer-Assisted Software for Recognizing Individual Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi). Copeia Dec 2018, Vol. 106, No. 4: 646-651. - get paper here
  • Terán-Juárez, Sergio A., Elí García Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Tamaulipas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (1): 43–113 - get paper here
  • TTWG [TURTLE TAXONOMY WORKING GROUP: RHODIN, A.G.J., IVERSON, J.B., FRITZ, U., GALLEGO-GARCÍA, N., GEORGES, A., SHAFFER, H.B., AND VAN DuK, P.P.]. 2025. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (10th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 10:1-575 - get paper here
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  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J.; van Dijk, P.P.; Iverson, J.B. & Shaffer, H.B. [turtle taxonomy working group] 2010. Turtles of the World, 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v3.2010 - get paper here
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  • Ward, J.P. 1984. Relationships of the Chrysemyd turtles of North America (Testudines: Emydidae). Special Publications of the Museum of the Texas Technological University 21: 1-50 - get paper here
 
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