Graptemys oculiferaRinged Map Turtle

Ge­o­graphic Range

Grapte­mys oculif­era is en­demic to the Pearl River sys­tem in Mis­sis­sippi and Louisiana. It is most com­mon in the main chan­nel of the Pearl River, es­pe­cially up­stream of the Ross Bar­nett Reser­voir, but is also found in the low­est reaches and the largest trib­u­tary of the Bougue Chitto River. The total length of the river the tur­tle in­hab­its is about 875 km. (ARKive, 2013; Jones and Hart­field, 1995)

Habi­tat

Ringed map tur­tles pre­fer wide rivers, with ei­ther a clay or sandy bot­tom, that have mod­er­ate to strong cur­rents. They re­quire areas with abun­dant bask­ing sites formed from de­bris and fallen trees. On oc­ca­sion, in­di­vid­u­als have been found in oxbow lakes in the same re­gion that have clay or sandy lake beds. Fe­males ven­ture into ter­res­trial areas when lay­ing eggs. This oc­curs on sand­bars ad­ja­cent to river chan­nels. It has been doc­u­mented that these sand­bars are 39% sand, 38% herba­ceous veg­e­ta­tion, and 23% woody veg­e­ta­tion. (ARKive, 2013; Ernst, et al., 1994)

  • Aquatic Biomes
  • rivers and streams

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The cara­pace of males and fe­males is dark olive with some yel­low and or­ange spots on the scutes (scales). The scutes around the perime­ter of the cara­pace show a yel­low semi­cir­cle pat­tern and the under shell is yel­low. Skin on the head and body is black­ish with yel­low strips. There is a large yel­low stripe found on top of the head that runs from the tip of snout to be­hind the eyes. There are also lat­eral stripes that some­times con­nect with the larger cen­tral stripe. The legs have one or two stripes dor­sally, ven­trally, and lat­er­ally. The cara­pace has flat­tened spines on ver­te­bral scutes 1 to 4. The spines on ver­te­bral scutes 1 and 4 are smaller and di­rected strongly pos­te­rior, whereas those on ver­te­bral scutes 2 and 3 are larger and di­rected mod­er­ately pos­te­rior. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009; Lin­de­man, 2000)

Fe­males are much larger than males with an av­er­age cara­pace length of 22 cm. The av­er­age cara­pace length of males is 11 cm. The cara­pace in both males and fe­males is longer than it is wide. The small­est recorded plas­tron (bot­tom part of shell) length of a male was 55.8 mm. There are some phys­i­cal dif­fer­ences be­tween males and fe­males other than body size. Fe­males are mi­cro­cephalic with nar­row heads. Males have a more pro­nounced tail, a more nar­row head, and larger fore­claws. Off­spring show slightly more re­sem­blance to adult males than adult fe­males, but gen­er­ally the char­ac­ter­is­tics are the same. Off­spring have an al­most round cara­pace that is more grey in color than that of an adult. Also, spines on off­spring are more pos­te­rior di­rected than on adults. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009; Lin­de­man, 2000)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • female larger
  • sexes shaped differently

De­vel­op­ment

Fe­males de­posit the eggs in nests that are about 29°C. The eggs are ap­prox­i­mately 39x24 mm and hatch after an av­er­age of 64 days. Just be­fore emerg­ing from the shell, the claws and shell mar­gins are cov­ered with gelatin-like sheath. After hatch­ing the tur­tles re­main in the nest for a short pe­riod, 12 days, and then emerge and travel from the nest to the river. Hatch­ings have a plas­tron length of 22.3 to 32.7 mm and are on av­er­age 9.5 g - 80.1% of freshly laid egg weight. For both ju­ve­nile males and fe­males, the growth rate is ap­prox­i­mately 8.4 mm/yr. In the be­gin­ning of the first grow­ing sea­son, ju­ve­niles are 35.7 to 53.7 mm long, and they grow to 39 to 58 mm in the sec­ond grow­ing sea­son. After this point and until sex­ual ma­tu­rity, fe­males grow at a faster rate than males. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009)

  • Development - Life Cycle
  • temperature sex determination

Re­pro­duc­tion

There is no in­for­ma­tion about the mat­ing sys­tem of ringed map tur­tles in the lit­er­a­ture.

Males and fe­males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture at dif­fer­ent ages. Males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture dur­ing the third or fourth sea­son of growth, whereas fe­males ma­ture after nine sea­sons. Al­though there is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion about mat­ing, it oc­curs at the end of April dur­ing the day­time. The ges­ta­tion pe­riod is about two and a half weeks, and eggs are laid in nests on sand­bars from mid-May to mid-June with the peak oc­cur­ring in mid-June. The nests are 30 mm in di­am­e­ter and depth, and are found 7 to 17.4 m from the edge of the river and close to veg­e­ta­tion. Fe­males can lay up to two clutches a year, but they usu­ally only lay one. Clutch size ranges from 1 to 10 eggs, with an av­er­age of 3 to 4 eggs. Off­spring emerge from the nest in late July to early Au­gust after sun­set and travel from the nest to the river. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009; Jones, 2006)

  • Breeding interval
    Females may lay two clutches a year. The annual clutch frequency is 1.10.
  • Breeding season
    Eggs are laid from mid May to mid July with the peak in mid June.
  • Range number of offspring
    1 to 10
  • Average number of offspring
    3.66
  • Average gestation period
    2.5 weeks

Fe­males in­vest more than males dur­ing off­spring de­vel­op­ment. Fe­males in­vest in and carry the eggs for about two and a half weeks and cre­ate the nests be­fore de­posit­ing the eggs. (Jones, 2006)

Fe­males nour­ish and carry the eggs, then place them in nests they con­struct along rivers. After hatch­ing, the young are in­de­pen­dent and there is no more parental care. (Jones, 2006)

  • Parental Investment
  • female parental care
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

There has been lit­tle re­search on ringed map tur­tles in longevity, but sys­tem­atic re­cap­tur­ing of in­di­vid­u­als has lead to some con­clu­sions. A fe­male in cap­tiv­ity lived 12 years and eight months. In the wild, fe­males are ex­pected to live be­tween 31 and 37 years, and males 23.5 to 25.5 years. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009)

  • Typical lifespan
    Status: wild
    27.25 to 31.25 years

Be­hav­ior

Ringed map tur­tles spend many hours dur­ing the day bask­ing on fallen logs or de­bris in the river chan­nel. When in­di­vid­u­als are bask­ing in groups, they tend to face in dif­fer­ent di­rec­tions to max­i­mize vis­i­bil­ity. In­di­vid­u­als rest on snags or fallen branches at night just under the sur­face of the water. They are not noc­tur­nally ac­tive; the only time this is ob­served is when hatch­lings leave the nest. (Ernst, et al., 1994)

Home Range

There is no in­for­ma­tion on home range size in ringed map tur­tles.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

There is no in­for­ma­tion about com­mu­ni­ca­tion or per­cep­tion in ringed map tur­tles in the lit­er­a­ture. How­ever, like most tur­tles, they use vi­sion, touch, and sense vi­bra­tions.

Food Habits

Ringed map tur­tles are om­niv­o­rous. They feed on plant ma­te­r­ial grow­ing on the un­der­sur­faces of logs, a ma­jor­ity being algae and flow­ers be­long­ing to the fam­ily Aster­aceae. They also feed heav­ily on adult and lar­val cad­dis­flies (Tri­choptera), true flies (Diptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), snails (Gas­tropoda), aquatic bee­tles and their lar­vae (Coleoptera), drag­on­fly nymphs (Odonata), and dam­selflies (Odonata). (Ernst, et al., 1994)

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • mollusks
  • Plant Foods
  • flowers
  • algae

Pre­da­tion

Pre­da­tion on nests and ju­ve­niles is very high. Off­spring loss in the nest is due to ter­res­trial preda­tors, in­clud­ing rac­coons, fish crows, and ar­madil­los. In ad­di­tion, many nests are at­tacked just after pip­ping (break­ing of the egg dur­ing hatch­ing) by an ant species (Solenop­sis mo­lesta) that is a rel­a­tive of the red ant. When in dan­ger or being dis­turbed the tur­tle’s first de­fense is to flee or pro­tect it­self in the shell. It may also bite or re­lease blad­der water if held. (Ernst, et al., 1994; Jones and Sel­man, 2009)

Ecosys­tem Roles

This species is a con­sumer, as it feeds on plants, algae, and in­sects. It also serves as a host to some ne­ma­tode species that are found in the tur­tle’s stom­ach and thought to be par­a­sitic. (Ernst, et al., 1994)

Com­men­sal/Par­a­sitic Species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

In­di­vid­u­als are some­times taken from the wild and kept as pets. (CITES, 2013)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of ringed map tur­tles on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ringed map tur­tles are listed as vul­ner­a­ble on the IUCN Red List as of Au­gust 2010. Pop­u­la­tions re­main sta­ble or in de­cline due to threats of pol­lu­tion, sed­i­men­ta­tion, habi­tat loss through chan­nel size de­crease, and weather (hur­ri­cane) ef­fects. Human de­struc­tion of the habi­tat is also neg­a­tively af­fect­ing pop­u­la­tions of these tur­tles. Cap­ture for the pet trade is likely to also neg­a­tively im­pact pop­u­la­tions. This species is con­sid­ered threat­ened through­out its range under the United States En­dan­gered Species Act. (CITES, 2013; In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources, 2013)

Con­trib­u­tors

Kara Bona­sia (au­thor), The Col­lege of New Jer­sey, Keith Pecor (ed­i­tor), The Col­lege of New Jer­sey, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

female parental care

parental care is carried out by females

freshwater

mainly lives in water that is not salty.

heterothermic

having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

natatorial

specialized for swimming

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

pet trade

the business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

threatened

The term is used in the 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals to refer collectively to species categorized as Endangered (E), Vulnerable (V), Rare (R), Indeterminate (I), or Insufficiently Known (K) and in the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals to refer collectively to species categorized as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), or Vulnerable (VU).

vibrations

movements of a hard surface that are produced by animals as signals to others

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

ARKive, 2013. "Ringed map tur­tle (Grapte­mys oculif­era)" (On-line). ARKive. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 22, 2013 at http://​www.​arkive.​org/​ringed-map-turtle/​graptemys-oculifera/​.

CITES, 2013. "Con­sid­er­a­tion of Pro­pos­als for Amend­ment of Ap­pen­dices I AND II" (On-line). CITES. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 25, 2013 at http://​www.​cites.​org/​eng/​cop/​10/​prop/​E-CoP10-P-59.​pdf.

Ernst, C., J. Lovich, R. Bar­bour. 1994. Tur­tles of the United States and Canada. United States: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Press.

In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources, 2013. "Grapte­mys oculif­era" (On-line). The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 25, 2013 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​.

Jones, R., P. Hart­field. 1995. Pop­u­la­tion size and growth in the tur­tle Grapte­mys oculif­era. Jour­nal of Her­petol­ogy, 29: 426-36. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 20, 2013 at https://​mail-attachment.​googleusercontent.​com/​attachment/​u/​0/?​ui=2&​ik=c0ac8561f6&​view=att&​th=141e66f6269040c7&​attid=0.​1&​disp=inline&​safe=1&​zw&​saduie=AG9B_​P_​m4-VZJVIkIwSxFksRPlSx&​sadet=1385081704178&​sads=vKMY3SWJpJrXlF42GxU13_​M98MM&​sadssc=1.

Jones, R. 2006. Re­pro­duc­tion and nest­ing of the en­dan­gered ringed map tur­tle, Grapte­mys oculif­era, in Mis­sis­sippi. Ch­e­lon­ian Con­ser­va­tion and Bi­ol­ogy, 5: 195-209. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 13, 2013 at http://​illiad.​davidson.​edu/​pdf/​Lending_​scans/​110230517.​pdf.

Jones, R., W. Sel­man. 2009. Grapte­mys oculif­era (Baur 1890)- Ringed Map Tur­tle, Ringed Saw­back. Con­ser­va­tion Bi­ol­ogy of Fresh­wa­ter Tur­tles and Tor­toises, 5: 033.1-033.8. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 20, 2013 at http://​www.​iucn-tftsg.​org/​wp-content/​uploads/​file/​Accounts/​crm_​5_​033_​oculifera_​v1_​2009.​pdf.

Lin­de­man, P. 2000. Evo­lu­tion of the rel­a­tive width of the head and alve­o­lar sur­faces in map tur­tles (Tes­tudines: Emy­di­dae: Grapte­mys). Bi­o­log­i­cal Jour­nal of the Lin­nean So­ci­ety, 69: 549–576. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 22, 2013 at http://​ac.​els-cdn.​com/​S0024406699903814/​1-s2.​0-S0024406699903814-main.​pdf?_​tid=33b0d222-5312-11e3-a806-00000aacb360&​acdnat=1385082521_​599f0361bbb8e327a93f5e823e875c09.