CHELONIAN CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY International Journal of Turtle and Tortoise Research Growth in Kyphotic Ringed Sawbacks, Graptemys oculifera (Testudines: Emydidae) WILL SELMAN 1,2 AND ROBERT L. JONES 3 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive #5018, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406 USA; 2 Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 5476 Grand Chenier Highway, Grand Chenier, Louisiana 70643 USA [wselman@wlf.la.gov]; 3 Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39202 USA [bob.jones@mmns.state.ms.us]
Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 2012, 11(2): 259 261 g 2012 Chelonian Research Foundation Growth in Kyphotic Ringed Sawbacks, Graptemys oculifera (Testudines: Emydidae) WILL SELMAN 1,2 AND ROBERT L. JONES 3 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive #5018, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406 USA; 2 Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 5476 Grand Chenier Highway, Grand Chenier, Louisiana 70643 USA [wselman@wlf.la.gov]; 3 Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39202 USA [bob.jones@mmns.state.ms.us] ABSTRACT. Kyphosis has not been reported in any Graptemys species (map turtles and sawbacks). We captured four kyphotic individuals of Graptemys oculifera from the Pearl River system, Mississippi, with three individuals recaptured 5 to 12 yrs later; one juvenile female had measurable growth, and two adult females had negligible growth. All kyphotic individuals
260 CHELONIAN CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY, Volume 11, Number 2 2012 were females, with an overall occurrence rate of 0.10% (4 of 3830 individuals) at five G. oculifera sample sites. Kyphotic turtles have been reported from many chelonian groups, with most reports of cryptodiran species (for species review, see Saumure 2001; Trembath 2009). Kyphotic deformities are rare within turtle populations, with reported occurrence rates in emydid species of 0.06% in Trachemys scripta (Tucker et al. 2007), 0.2% in Clemmys guttata (Ernst 1976), 0.2 1.5% in Chrysemys picta (Ernst 1971; MacCulloch 1981; Stuart 1996), and 2.1% in Trachemys gaigeae (Stuart and Painter 2008). There is one report for a severely deformed Graptemys ouachitensis (Ouachita map turtle; Carpenter 1958), but there are no specific reports of kyphosis for any of the 14 formally recognized Graptemys species (map turtles and sawbacks; Lindeman, in press). Herein we report the first records of kyphosis in a Graptemys species, Graptemys oculifera (ringed sawback), and document growth in three kyphotic individuals. During ecological studies of G. oculifera conducted by RLJ, three kyphotic G. oculifera females were captured at the Ratliff Ferry site on the Pearl River (Madison County, Mississippi; described by Jones 2006). Kyphotic female #1 was captured on 29 May 1987 with a carapace length (CL) of 14.6 cm and was permanently marked as 8, 11 R 1, 9 L. Female #1 was recaptured on 31 May 1995 with a CL of 14.8 cm, thus exhibiting only 0.2 cm of growth over 8 yrs. Kyphotic female #2 was captured on 12 September 1989 (midline plastron length, MPL: 7.7 cm) with no evidence of kyphosis and was permanently marked (3, 8, 9 R). Female #2 was recaptured over 5 yrs later on 31 May 1995 with kyphotic abnormalities present and measuring 11.4 MPL (3.7 cm growth). Kyphotic female #3 (1, 9 R 1, 2, 10 L) was captured on 18 April 2002 with a MPL of 10.0 cm. During the same study, kyphotic female #4 was captured on 9 September 1994 by RLJ at the Columbia site (Marion County, Mississippi) with a MPL of 10.1 cm. The female was permanently marked (2, 12 R 3 L) and released at the capture site. Almost 11 yrs later on 10 August 2005, WS captured female #4 at the same site, and she measured 11.2 cm PL (Fig. 1). On 11 October 2006, female #4 was captured for a third time in the same locality as 2005 (within 6.1 m GPS accuracy); she measured 11.3 cm PL. Presumably, female #1 from Ratliff Ferry and female #4 from Columbia were at or near maturity, with little growth (0.2 cm CL and 1.2 cm MPL) occurring over capture intervals spanning 8 and 12 yrs, respectively. These two females were also at or above the mean body size for females reported at those sites (12.6 cm Columbia and 13.4 cm Ratliff Ferry; Jones and Hartfield 1995), indicating that the spinal deformity had not dramatically impacted overall body size. It is likely that female #4 was at least 20 25 yrs of age at the last point of capture in 2006, with no observable long-term Figure 1. Kyphotic female Graptemys oculifera #4, captured near Columbia in Marion County, Mississippi. impacts of this shell deformity. However, based upon published growth curves for G. oculifera (Jones and Hartfield 1995), female #4 s growth interval was below the expected range of growth at the 10 11-cm size range, whereas female #1 was within the growth rate range expected at the 14-cm size range. Harding and Bloomer (1979) found a kyphotic wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) and, based upon the number of growth rings present, concluded that the individual was smaller than expected for that age class; they concluded that the abnormality may have slowed growth. However, Wilhoft (1980) found that a kyphotic juvenile Chelydra serpentina (common snapping turtle) gained more mass per month than did a normal clutch mate. Of the four kyphotic females, only two were captured during the nesting season (#1, captured twice; #2, captured once), which lasts from 30 April to 15 July (Jones 2006); neither of these females was gravid. It is possible that females #1 and #2 produced a clutch of eggs during those years, but our capture dates may have preceded or followed those reproductive events. Other researchers have found that kyphotic females are capable of nesting and laying fertile eggs (Wilhoft 1980; J. Iverson, pers. comm., December 2011). Only a single kyphotic G. oculifera was encountered in 713 captures at the Columbia site (0.14%), whereas three of 1751 captured from the Ratliff Ferry site were kyphotic (0.17%). In all five populations studied since 1987, only these 4 kyphotic females were encountered among 3830 total individuals (0.10%); therefore, it is unclear whether this condition occurs in male G. oculifera. However, it may be more difficult to determine the presence of this condition in Graptemys males because of the heavily spined and taller dorsal keel of males relative to females (Cagle 1953; Jones and Selman 2009). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Section 6: Endangered species for funding this research. Dane Trembath and an anonymous reviewer provided
NOTES AND FIELD REPORTS 261 helpful comments that improved the manuscript. This project was approved by the USFWS; Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks; and the University of Southern Mississippi Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC 07032201 for WS work). LITERATURE CITED CAGLE, F.R. 1953. The status of the turtle Graptemys oculifera (Baur). Zoologica (New York) 38:137 144. CARPENTER, C.C. 1958. An unusual Ouachita map turtle. Herpetologica 14:116. ERNST, C.H. 1971. Observations of the painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. Journal of Herpetology 5:216 220. ERNST, C.H. 1976. Ecology of the spotted turtle, Clemmys guttata (Reptilia, Testudines, Testudinidae) in southeastern Pennsylvania. Journal of Herpetology 10:25 33. HARDING, J.H. AND BLOOMER, T.J. 1979. The wood turtle, Clemmys insculpta a natural history. HERP: Bulletin of the New York Herpetological Society 15:9 26. JONES, R.L. 2006. Reproduction and nesting of the endangered ringed map turtle, Graptemys oculifera, in Mississippi. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 5:195 209. JONES, R.L. AND HARTFIELD, P.D. 1995. Population size and growth in the turtle Graptemys oculifera. Journal of Herpetology 29:426 436. JONES, R.L. AND SELMAN, W. 2009. Graptemys oculifera (Baur 1890) ringed map turtle, ringed sawback. In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 033.1 033.8, doi:10.3854/crm.5.033.oculifera.v1. 2009, http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/cbftt/. LINDEMAN, P.V. The Map Turtle and Sawback Atlas: Ecology, Evolution, Distribution, and Conservation of the Genus Graptemys. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press (in press). MACCULLOCH, R.D. 1981. Variation in the shell of Chrysemys picta bellii from southern Saskatchewan. Journal of Herpetology 15:181 185. SAUMURE, R.A. 2001. Kyphosis in a musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) from Ontario, Canada. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4:159. STUART, J.N. 1996. Additional records of kyphosis in freshwater turtles. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 31: 60 61. STUART, J.N. AND PAINTER, C.W. 2008. Trachemys gaigeae gaigeae. Kyphosis. Herpetological Review 39:218 219. TREMBATH, D.F. 2009. Kyphosis of Emydura macquarii krefftii (Testudines: Chelidae) from Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 8:94 95. TUCKER, J.K., LAMER, J.T., AND DOLAN, C.R. 2007. Trachemys scripta elegans. Kyphosis. Herpetological Review 38:337 338. WILHOFT, D.C. 1980. Kyphosis in the snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina. HERP: Bulletin of the New York Herpetological Society 15:15 26. Received: 7 December 2011 Revised and Accepted: 16 January 2012 Handling Editor: Peter V. Lindeman