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Relationships among turtles of the genus Clemmys (Reptilia, Testudines, Emydidae) as suggested by plastron scute morphology
Author(s) -
LOVICH JEFFREY E.,
LAEMMERZAHL ARNDT F.,
ERNST CARL H.,
McBREEN JOHN F.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6409.1991.tb00306.x
Subject(s) - biology , subspecies , zoology , genus , turtle (robot) , morphology (biology) , taxon , ecology
The Conservative morphology of hardshelled turtles has fostered the use of size relationships between epidermal scutes (scales) on the shell to differentiate between species and subspecies of many taxa. The size relationship of the six major pairs of plastral scutes were used to compare the four currently recognized species of the genus Clemmys with each other. as well as with the distantly related Graptemys barbouri using Jaccard Coefficients. Shannon‐Weiner diversity indices, and multivariate analysis. Results were concordant among the three techniques used and confirm our prediction that plastral morphology varies little among closely related species and widely among distantly related taxa. Clemmys muhlenbergii appears to he more different from Clemmys guttata than previously suggested. Analysis of plastral morphology shows promise as a taxonomic tool for turtle systematists.