Mesoclemmys Vanderhaegei (Bour 1973) – Vanderhaege's Toad
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Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation ProjectChelidae of the IUCN/SSC — Mesoclemmys Tortoise and vanderhaegei Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 083.1 A.G.J. Rhodin, P.C.H. Pritchard, P.P. van Dijk, R.A. Saumure, K.A. Buhlmann, J.B. Iverson, and R.A. Mittermeier, Eds. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.083.vanderhaegei.v1.2014 © 2014 by Chelonian Research Foundation • Published 27 December 2014 Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Bour 1973) – Vanderhaege’s Toad-headed Turtle, Karumbé-hy THIAGO S. MARQUES1, STEPHAN BÖHM2, ELIZÂNGELA S. BRITO3, MARIO R. CABRERA4, AND LUCIANO M. VERDADE1 1Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, C.P. 96, 13416-000, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil [[email protected]; [email protected]]; 2Johannagasse 18/16, 1050 Wien, Austria [[email protected]]; 3Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia de Água Doce e Pesca Interior (BADPI), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Avenida André Araújo 2936, 69067-375 Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil [[email protected]]; 4Museo de Zoología and Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (CONICET/UNC), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Vélez Sarsfield 299, (5000) Córdoba, Argentina [[email protected]] SUmmARY. – Vanderhaege’s Toad-headed Turtle, Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Family Chelidae), is a poorly known freshwater turtle that is widely distributed in central South America. It occurs in the Amazonas, Tocantins, Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay River basins, where it inhabits shallow streams, ponds, and marshes. Its taxonomic status has long been uncertain and confusion with similar looking species of toad-headed turtles still occurs frequently, leading to erroneous distribution records. Adults can reach up to 285 mm straight carapace length. No subspecies are currently recognized, although there are obvious differences in shell, iris coloration, and body size among populations. The species seems to rely mainly on a carnivorous or opportunistic omnivorous diet. Females are capable of depositing more than one clutch per year with a mean clutch size of 6.4 ± 3.9 eggs. Due to its great ecological adaptability, the species occurs in pristine habitats as well as agricultural and urban areas, but with a cryptic lifestyle. There is little known about its basic ecology except for local studies in Brazil, but detailed ecological surveys in Paraguay and Argentina are lacking. The current population status cannot be fully determined. DIstRIBUTION. – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay. Occurs in portions of the Amazonas, Tocantins, Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay drainage basins, and in montane streams of Santa Cruz in Bolivia. SYNONYMY. – Phrynops schöpfii Fitzinger in Diesing 1839 (nomen nudum), Phrynops schoepffii Fitzinger in Siebenrock 1904 (nomen nudum, partim), Phrynops paraguayensis Vanzolini in Donoso-Barros 1965 (nomen nudum), Phrynops tuberculatus vanderhaegei Bour 1973; Phrynops (Batrachemys) vanderhaegei, Phrynops vanderhaegei, Batrachemys vanderhaegei, Bufocephala vanderhaegei, Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei. SUBSPECIES. – None recognized. STATUS. – IUCN 2014 Red List: Lower Risk/Near Threatened (NT, assessed 1996, needs updating); TFTSG Draft 2012: Near Threatened or Data Deficient; CITES: not listed; Brazil: not listed; São Paulo state: Insufficient data; Argentina: Data deficient. Taxonomy. — Since the species’ description as more specimens and confirmed Pritchard’s (1979) elevation Phrynops tuberculatus vanderhaegei (Bour 1973), there of the taxon by assigning it full specific rank asPhrynops has been debate (e.g., McDiarmid and Foster 1987) about vanderhaegei (Bour 1973). Furthermore, they restricted the specific rank of the taxon and its strong similarity the type locality to Tobati, La Cordillera, Paraguay. to the Amazonian Gibba Turtle Mesoclemmys gibba Due to the lack of clear morphological affinity to any (Schweigger 1812) and the Tuberculated Toad-headed of their newly elevated genera of Phrynops, Mesoclemmys, Turtle, Mesoclemmys tuberculata (Luederwaldt 1926). or Batrachemys, McCord et al. (2001) placed the species in When first describing the species, Bour (1973) designated the new monotypic genus Bufocephala. By describing the a living male (without number) as the holotype from the morphologically intermediate Mesoclemmys perplexa from vague type locality of “probably the surroundings of central-eastern Brazil, Bour and Zaher (2005) proposed a Asuncion in Paraguay.” Bour and Pauler (1987) provided more cautious approach by including B. vanderhaegei (sensu clear morphological diagnostic characters between M. McCord et al. 2001) into the genus Mesoclemmys Gray tuberculata, M. gibba, and M. vanderhaegei by including 1873. This solution is currently accepted, but further studies 083.2 Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises • Chelonian Research Monographs, No. 5 Figure 1. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei from Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Elizângela S. Brito. on the phylogeny of the toad-headed turtles based on both dark brown to black with a yellow halo at the margins. The phenotypic and genetic characters should be prioritized. intergular scute clearly separates the gulars, but not the Description. — Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei is a humerals. In juveniles, the plastron is entirely black. medium-sized chelid turtle with an overall flat shell shape, Dorsal head coloration is gray, while the ventral body webbed feet, and wide head. Males can reach up to 285 mm and head parts, including the jaws, are of cream-like color. straight carapace length (CL), while the largest known female Sometimes an extent of dark mottling can occur along the is 280 mm CL (Métrailler 2005a). However, average sizes in upper and lower jaws as well as on the gular area, which is populations are often significantly smaller, with a population more often the case in juveniles. Contrary to the statement in central Brazil (females 168 ± 16 mm CL, males 139 ± 18 of McCord et al. (2001), there is not always a horizontal bar mm, n = 80; Brito et al. 2009a) and one in southeastern Brazil present in the iris. For comparison see Vetter (2005); this (females 203 ± 27 mm, males 171 ± 20 mm, n = 31; Marques trait cannot be assigned to single separate populations. Two et al. 2013) showing variation in body size. small barbels are present on the chin. Complete osteological descriptions of the skull and shell Sexual dimorphism is present in all populations, where of the species are given by Bour and Pauler (1987) and Cabrera males are distinguished from females by their longer tails (1998), who analyzed the morphological distinctiveness in and smaller anal notch, in addition to their usually smaller toad-headed turtles. The carapace is uniformly dark brown body size. Brito et al. (2009a) and Marques et al. (2013) to black, mildly domed and ellipsoid; sometimes a median groove is present in adults. The carapace is broadest across the 8th marginals and deepest at the 3rd vertebral. Vertebrals are broader than long. The plastron of adults shows great variation in black pigmentation and can be uniformly yellow to nearly entirely Figure 3. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei from Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Figure 2. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei from Angatuba, São Paulo, Brazil (top) and Angatuba, São Paulo, Brazil (bottom). Photos by Brazil. Photos by Thiago S. Marques. Elizângela S. Brito (top) and Thiago S. Marques (bottom). Chelidae — Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei 083.3 Figure 4. Distribution of Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina in central South America. Purple lines = boundaries delimiting major watersheds (level 3 hydrologic unit compartments – HUCs); red dots = museum and literature occurrence records of native populations based on Iverson (1992) plus more recent and authors’ data; green shading = projected native distribution based on GIS-defined HUCs constructed around verified localities and then adding HUCs that connect known point localities in the same watershed or physiographic region, and similar habitats and elevations as verified HUCs (Buhlmann et al. 2009; TTWG 2014), and adjusted based on authors’ subsequent data. reported striking differences in body size between sexes in M. vanderhaegei, 232.5 mm maximum in M. gibba) and and populations. slightly broader head. Mesoclemmys tuberculata has an No morphological description of hatchlings are available even broader head, which sometimes shows a mottled dorsal in the literature, but some hatchlings have been collected in pattern. Additionally, flavism seems to be more frequent inM. different regions. Souza et al. (2000) captured two hatchlings tuberculata. Mesoclemmys gibba and M. tuberculata never (39.2 mm CL, 16.4 g mass; and 41.9 mm CL, 16.0 g mass) have horizontal black bars in their iris, and M. vanderhaegei in Itirapina Ecological Station in São Paulo state, Brazil. can also be distinguished from other toad-headed turtles by No subspecies are currently recognized, and M. its pugnacious behavior when handled. vanderhaegei is sometimes difficult to differentiate from Distribution. — Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei has a M. gibba and M. tuberculata due to their morphological wide geographic distribution in South America, including similarity. However, M. vanderhaegei is usually distinguished the Amazonas, Tocantins, Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay from M. gibba by its greater CL in adults (285 mm maximum river basins, usually associated with open formations (Souza 2005). It inhabits water