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Terrapene mexicana (GRAY, 1849)

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Higher TaxaEmydidae, Emydinae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Mexican Box Turtle
D: Mexikanische Dosenschildkröte
S: Caja Mexicana 
SynonymCistudo (Onychotria) mexicana GRAY 1849: 17
Cistudo mexicana — GRAY 1864: 106
Cistudo mexicana — GÜNTHER 1885: 1
Onychotria mexicana — DUGES 1888: 107
Cistudo carolina var. mexicana — BOULENGER 1889
Cistudo mexicana — BOULENGER 1895: 331
Terapene mexicana — BAUR 1893
Cistudo mexicana — BARBOUR & COLE 1906: 147
Terrapene goldmani STEJNEGER 1933
Terrapene mexicana mexicana — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950
Terrapene carolina mexicana — MILSTEAD 1967
Terrapene carolina mexicana — MILSTEAD 1969
Terrapene carolina mexicana — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977
Terrapene carolina mexicana — LINER 1994
Terrapene mexicana — STEPHENS & WIENS 2003: 597
Terrapene mexicana — REYNOLDS et al. 2007
Terrapene carolina mexicana — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007
Terrapene carolina mexicana — RHODIN et al. 2010
Terrapene mexicana — VALVERDE 2011
Terrapene mexicana mexicana — MARTIN et al. 2013
Terrapene mexicana — LEGLER & VOGT 2013
Terrapene mexicana — WYLIE & GRÜNWALD 2017
Terrapene mexicana — JOHNSON et al. 2017
Terrapene mexicana — TTWG 2017
Terrapene carolina mexicana — SEIDEL & ERNST 2017
Terrapene mexicana — TTWG 2021 
DistributionMexico (San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Hidalgo)

Type locality: “Mexico”; restricted to Tampico, Tamaulipas, by Smith & Taylor 1950: 346.

goldmani: Type Locality: “Chijol (or Chijoles), southeastern corner of the State of San Luis Potosi, Mexico; in the coast plain.” Locality listed as extreme northern Veracruz by Goldman (1951:270).  
Reproduction 
TypesSyntype: BMNH 1947.3.5.48 (formerly 48.7.28.29-30), 1947.3.4.4.Purch: Mr. Warwick.
Holotype: USNM 46251 (alcoholic adult female, CL “151 mm”), collected by Dr. Edward W. Nelson and Edward A. Goldman, 11 May 1898 [goldmani] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSubspecies: following Martin et al. (2013) who removed Terrapene carolina triunguis (AGASSIZ 1857), T. c. mexicana (GRAY 1849), and T. c. yucatana (BOULENGER 1895) and assign them to T. mexicana. Spinks et al. 2016 suggested to synonymize mexicana with T. c. triunguis without commenting on the priority issue. Martin et al. (2013) suggested elevating a clade consisting of triunguis, mexicana, and yucatana to a distinct species: Terrapene mexicana ssp. (Martin et al. 2013). This was rejected by Fritz & Havaš 2014. We follow TTWG 2017 who considered both Terrapene carolina mexicana and Terrapene mexicana as valid names (same for yucatana).

Distribution: Not in Nuevo León fide Nevárez-de los Reyes et al. 2016. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • Barbour, T., and L. J. Cole. 1906. Vertebrata from Yucatan. Reptilia, Amphibia and Pisces. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 50: 146-159 - get paper here
  • Baur, G. 1893. Two new species of North American Testudinata. American Naturalist 27: 675–677 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1895. On the American Box-tortoises. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6)15: 330-331 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1889. Catalogue of the chelonians, rhynchocephalians, and crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum, London, 311 pp.
  • Fritz, U. & Havas, P. 2007. CHECKLIST OF CHELONIANS OF THE WORLD. Vertebrate Zoology 57(2): 149-368 - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1849. Description of a new species of Box Tortoise from Mexico. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1849: 16-17 - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1864. Observations on the box tortoises, with the description of three new asiatic species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 13: 105-111 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - get paper here
  • Johnson, J. D., L. D. Wilson, V. Mata-Silva, E. García-Padilla, and D. L. DeSantis. 2017. The endemic herpetofauna of Mexico: organisms of global significance in severe peril. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(3): 544–620 - 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
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Woolrich-Piña GA 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 753: 83-106 - get paper here
  • Liner, E.A. 1994. Scientific and common names for the Amphibians and Reptiles of Mexico in English and Spanish. Herpetological Circular 23: 1-113
  • Martin, Bradley T.; Neil P. Bernstein, Roger D. Birkhead, Jim F. Koukl, Steven M. Mussmann, John S. Placyk Jr. 2013. Sequence-based molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of the American box turtles (Terrapene spp.) with support from DNA barcoding. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68 (1): 119–134 - get paper here
  • Milstead, W.W. 1969. Studies on the evolution of box turtles (genus Terrapene). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 14 (1): 1-113. - get paper here
  • Milstead, W.W., and D.W. Tinkle. 1967. Terrapene of western Mexico, with comments on the species groups in the genus. Copeia 1967 (1): 180-187. - 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
  • Seidel, Michael E. & Carl H. Ernst 2017. A Systematic Review of the Turtle Family Emydidae. Vertebrate Zoology 67 (1): 1–122 - get paper here
  • Smith, H.M. & Taylor,E.H. 1950. An annotated checklist and key to the reptiles of Mexico exclusive of the snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 199: 1-253 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1939. An annotated list of the Mexican amphibians and reptiles in the Carnegie Museum. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 27: 311-320
  • Stejneger, L. 1933. Proc. bio!. Soc. Washington, 46: 119 - get paper here
  • Stephens, P.R. & Wiens, J.J. 2003. Ecological diversification and phylogeny of emydid turtles. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 79: 577-610 - get paper here
  • Torres-Hernández, LA, Ramírez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Hernández-Salinas U, Berriozabal-Islas C, DeSantis DL, Johnson JD, Rocha A, García-Padilla E, Mata-Silva V, Fucsko LA, and Wilson LD. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2) [General Section]: 72–155 - get paper here
  • TTWG; Anders G.J. Rhodin, John B. iverson, Roger Bour, Uwe Fritz, Arthur GeoRges, H. BRadley Shaffer, and Peter Paul van Dijk 2017. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (8th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Ed Chelonian Research Monographs 7:1–292. doi: 10.3854/crm.7.checklist.atlas.v8.2017 - get paper here
  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P. 2021. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th 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.). Chelonian Research Monographs 8:1–472. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. - get paper here
  • 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
  • VALENCIA-HERVERTH, R., L. FERNANDEZ-BADILLO, AND J. VANENCIA-HERVERTH 2020. Geographic Distribution: Terrapene mexicana (Mexican Box Turtle). México: Hidalgo: Municipality Of Huejutla De Reyes. Herpetological Review 51: 537-538.
  • Valverde, J. 2011. Die Schildkröten Mexikos. Reptilia (Münster) 16 (91): 16-23 - get paper here
  • Wermuth, H., and R. Mertens. 1977. Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Testudines, Crocodylia, Rhynchocephalia. Das Tierreich. Berlin. 100: i-xxvii, 1-174 - get paper here
  • Wylie, D. B., and C. I. Grünwald. 2017. First report of Terrapene mexicana (Testudines: Emydidae) from the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(2): 486–487 - get paper here
 
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