Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.1 and J. Whitfield Gibbons2
1State
Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120-0024
[wmeshaka@state.pa.us];
2Savannah River Ecology Lab, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina
29802
[gibbons@srel.edu]
Summary
The eastern mud turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum, is one of two species
of mud turtle found in Florida. Unlike the striped mud turtle (K. baurii),
the eastern mud turtle shows significant geographic variation in morphology,
with three subspecies know, all occurring in Florida (K. s. subrubrum,
K. s. steindachneri, and K. s. hippocrepis). One of these,
K. s. steindachneri, is endemic to the Florida peninsula and differs
significantly from the other subspecies in morphology, genetics, and possibly
reproductive biology. This aquatic subspecies is found in lentic or slow-moving
systems, with a preference for well-vegetated, sandy-bottomed littoral
zones. It is active night or day, with a possible reduction in activity
during the summer. Its reduced plastron may be in response to a more extensive
aquatic existence. Males of this form are larger in body size than females.
In northern Florida, the reproductive season of K. subrubrum is
longer and the clutch sizes are smaller than in more northerly populations.
In central Florida, K. s. steindachneri is sensitive to certain
kinds of habitat modifications. Habitat destruction and modification,
such as roads adjacent to canals and ditches, negatively impact what is
otherwise an uncommon and ecologically poorly-studied Florida endemic
subspecies.
Conservation
Status. -FNAI Global - G5 (Demonstrably Secure), State - S5 (Demonstrably
Secure); ESA Federal - Not Listed; State - Not Listed; CITIES - Not Listed;
IUCN Red List - Not Listed (LC - Least Concern).
SREL Reprint #2988
Meshaka, W. E., Jr. and J. W. Gibbons. 2006. Kinosternon subrubrum - Eastern Mud Turtle. Chelonian Research Monographs 3:189-196.
