Chelidae, Gray, 1831

Páez, Vivian P., Bock, Brian C., Alzate-Estrada, Diego A., Barrientos-Muñoz, Karla G., Cartagena-Otálvaro, Viviana M., Echeverry-Alcendra, Andrea, Gómez-Rincón, Marley T., Ramírez-Gallego, Cristian, Sofía, Jennifer & Vallejo-Betancur, Margarita M., 2022, Turtles of Colombia: an annotated analysis of their diversity, distribution, and conservation status, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 306) 16 (1), pp. 106-135 : 116-117

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13269886

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CD8781-FFA9-FFF5-B967-A0E4FE6B99B8

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Chelidae
status

 

Chelidae View in CoL

Chelus View in CoL . Matamata turtles exhibit geographic variation in carapace shape and color, with individuals from the Orinoco drainage having rounder, lighter colored carapaces than Amazonian individuals ( Pritchard and Trebbau 1984; Sánchez-Villagra et al. 1995; Pritchard 2008). An examination of two mtDNA fragments ( Lasso et al. 2018) also revealed haplotype differences between the Orinoco and Amazonian individuals from Colombia. Finally, an examination of three mtDNA fragments, one nuclear DNA fragment, and multiple SNPs from individuals across the range of Chelus fimbriata View in CoL (sensu lato) revealed a deep phylogenetic division between samples from the Orinoco, Rio Negro, and Essequibo drainages versus samples from the Amazon and Mahury drainages, prompting Vargas-Ramírez et al. (2020) to elevate the former clade to the species level as Chelus orinocensis View in CoL .

Mesoclemmys heliostemma (McCord, Jospeh-Ouni, and Lamar, 2001) View in CoL . This species was described based on five voucher specimens and nine live individuals from the western Amazon region, specifically northeastern Peru, eastern Ecuador, and southern Venezuela ( McCord et al. 2001). Molina et al. (2012) examined eight additional individuals from eastern Peru and northern Brazil, and concluded that the species is valid and morphologically distinct from M. raniceps View in CoL (but see Cunha et al. 2019). They suggested that reports of M. heliostemma View in CoL for Colombia were cases of misidentification of M. raniceps View in CoL individuals. The previous TTWG checklist (TTWG 2017) mentioned Colombia as likely to include M. heliostemma View in CoL , presenting a range map with a polygon that included Colombia but without any point locations. Our searches failed to find any vouchers or literature reports corroborating the occurrence of this species in Colombia. Finally, Cuhna et al. (2019) reviewed the convoluted history of the taxonomy of the genus Mesoclemmys View in CoL and presented evidence indicating that females of M. raniceps View in CoL may oviposit clutches that produce hatchlings with both M. raniceps View in CoL and M. heliostemma View in CoL phenotypes. They concluded that M. heliostemma View in CoL should be considered a junior synonym to M. raniceps View in CoL and warned against describing species solely on the basis of differences in color patterns. This recent taxonomic proposal, combined with the lack of any vouchers or literature records for the occurrence of turtles exhibiting the “ M. heliostemma View in CoL ” phenotype in Colombia, led us to exclude this species from our checklist.

Mesoclemmys ranicpes and M. wermuthi View in CoL . Cuhna et al. (2019) not only synonymized M. raniceps View in CoL and M. heliostemma View in CoL , they also resurrected the species

Mesoclemmys wermuthi View in CoL , which had been previously synonymized with M. raniceps ( Bour and Pauler 1987) View in CoL . They also argued that the name Mesoclemmys maculata View in CoL had precedence as the correct name for this resurrected species.Although the most recent TTWG (2021) checklist chose to recognize the species, it retained the name M. wermuthi View in CoL . Apparently both M. raniceps View in CoL and M. wermuthi View in CoL have been reported to occur along the Colombian borders with Peru and Brazil (TTWG 2021), but our searches only produced one voucher specimen identified as M. raniceps View in CoL . Thus, this is the one instance in which we failed to find a rigorous record for a species purported to occur in Colombia ( M. wermuthi View in CoL ), or alternately, the voucher we located is actually a specimen of M. wermuthi View in CoL that was misidentified, in which case we lack a rigorous record for M. raniceps View in CoL .

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Testudines

Order

Pleurodira

Family

Chelidae

Loc

Chelidae

Páez, Vivian P., Bock, Brian C., Alzate-Estrada, Diego A., Barrientos-Muñoz, Karla G., Cartagena-Otálvaro, Viviana M., Echeverry-Alcendra, Andrea, Gómez-Rincón, Marley T., Ramírez-Gallego, Cristian, Sofía, Jennifer & Vallejo-Betancur, Margarita M. 2022
2022
Loc

Chelus orinocensis

Páez & Bock & Alzate-Estrada & Barrientos-Muñoz & Cartagena-Otálvaro & Echeverry-Alcendra & Gómez-Rincón & Ramírez-Gallego & Sofía & Vallejo-Betancur 2022
2022
Loc

M. wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

Mesoclemmys wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

M. wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

M. wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

M. wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

M. wermuthi

Mertens 1969
1969
Loc

Mesoclemmys

Gray 1873
1873
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
Loc

M. raniceps

Gray 1856
1856
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