Markus Auer Fig. 24. The
Markus Auer Fig. 24. The second Wood Turtle, “Paris”. Fig. 25. “Paris” from below; note the splendid light orange colour of the skin. Fig. 26. A female Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), found in the shade of shrubs and grass on the dry slope. 16 RADIATA 26 (2), 2017
In Search of Chelonians in Connecticut and New York State Compared to other populations, the Wood Turtles living here in eastern NY are a little smaller and not quite as brightly coloured, whereas those in eastern Pennsylvania are said to be larger and sporting a deep dark orange to red colour (Pierlioni, verbal comm.) as are those from Nova Scotia (Becker, verbal comm.). A general categorisation distinguishes between a yellow western and a red eastern population (Ernst & Lovich 2009), but the turtles do not always conform to this “rule”. Those living to the east of the Appalachian Mountains can have soft parts that range from dark yellow via orange to red in colour. As mentioned above, this trait may vary to some extent between populations, but also with the individual. Apparently there are hardly any genetic indicators that would significantly separate the western from the eastern populations (Amato et al. 2008). We hope that the coming years will offer us with more opportunities to visit and observe turtles in the eastern US wild. We will then probably choose a period in spring or early summer when chances are greater of finding Glyptemys and Terrapene without telemetry transponders and maybe come face to face with the one or other Clemmys guttata for taking a few photographs. Acknowledgements We are greatly indebted to Anthony Pierlioni, Jon Foley und Chris Leone for their kind assistance during our trip. Wayne Hill is thanked for generously inviting us to the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona. Author Markus Auer Dresden, Germany E-Mail: emys@gmx.de References Amato, M. L., Brooks, R. J. & J. Fu (2008): A phylogeographic analysis of populations of the wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) throughout its range. Molecular Ecology 17: 570-581. Conant, R. & J. T. Collins (1998) A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3 rd edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 640 pp. Ernst, C. H. & J. E. Lovich (2009): Turtles of the United States and Canada. 2 nd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 840 pp. Kalter, G. http://www.schildkroetenteiche.de/marginata_dok.htm, 20.01.2017 Minutes of the discussion on Chrysemys picta held at the workshop about North American Turtles 2016 There is a ban on importation of Painted Turtles into the European Union for some years. Therefore it is recommended to assort breeding groups of pure subspecies and/ or animals of the same locale that are still kept in the EU area. The whole genus will be put on the EU invasive species act in the next years possibly. Indoor husbandry of Chrysemys picta und C. dorsalis is possible. Especially the northern species picta with their subspecies belli and marginata is doing better in outdoor enclosures. Although Painted Turtles are excellent swimmers they need to have pond banks that are easily accessible during cold weather periods when the turtles move slow and prefer to walk along the ground to reach the water surface. Aggressive males are quite common in Painted Turtles and cause stress and injuries to each other and females. Therefore it is recommended to monitor the group closely and remove such individuals for prolonged periods of time to add them only during mating season for short time to the group. Once the pond is deep enough (60-100 cm / 24-39 inches) and does not have too much of a mud layer, Chrysemys picta can be hibernated outside in Central Europe without pond heating or aeration in winter. RADIATA 26 (2), 2017 17
