Spiny Softshell Turtle

Taxobox
name = "Spiny Softshell

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image_caption = Spiny Softshell Turtle, "Apalone spinifera"
status = secure
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Testudines
subordo = Cryptodira
familia = Trionychidae
genus = "Apalone"
species = "A. spinifera"
binomial = "Apalone spinifera"
binomial_authority = Lesueur, 1827
synonyms = "Trionyx ocellatus"
"Gymnopus spiniferus"
"Trionyx spiniferus"
"Aspidonectes spinifer"

The spiny softshell ("Apalone spinifera", formerly "Trionyx spiniferus") is a species of softshelled turtle, one of the largest freshwater turtle species in North America. They get their name from the spiny, cone-like projections on the leading edge of their carapace, which are not scutes (scales).

Geographic range

The spiny softshell has a wide range, extending throughout much of the United States, as well as north into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and south into the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Baja California and Morelos.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1827. It has been redescribed numerous times, leading to some confusion in its taxonomy. There are now seven recognized subspecies, which vary primarily by geography, and are not easily distinguishable from one another.

Reproduction

The spiny softshell becomes sexually mature between ages 8 and 10. A large female turtle may live up to 50 years. The turtles mate in mid to late spring in deep water. The male will nudge the female's head while swimming and if she chooses to mate, the male will swim above the female without clasping her with his claws(this is unlike other turtles). The turtle quickly lays her eggs along a sunny sandbar or gravel bank in a flask-shaped cavity that she has dug close to the water. The turtle nests more than once during a single season. She can lay between 9 to 38 round calcareous-shelled eggs. The eggs hatch around August and September and hatch in the spring. Sex is not determined by temperature variations in the spiny soft shell turtle.

ubspecies

*Gulf Coast spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera aspera" (Agassiz, 1857)
*Black spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera ater" (Webb & Legler, 1960)
*Texas spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera emoryi" (Agassiz, 1857)
*Guadalupe spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera guadalupensis" (Webb, 1962)
*Western spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera hartwegi" (Conant & Goin, 1941)
*Pallid spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera pallida" (Webb, 1962)
*Eastern spiny softshell , "Apalone spinifera spinifera" (Lesueur, 1827)

References

*EMBL species|genus=Apalone|species=spinifera
* [http://www.tortoise.org/archives/apalone.html California Turtle & Tortoise Club: Softshell Turtles]