Deirochelys | |
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Chicken turtle(D. reticularia) basking | |
Scientific classification![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Superfamily: | Testudinoidea |
Family: | Emydidae |
Subfamily: | Deirochelyinae |
Genus: | Deirochelys Agassiz, 1857 |
Type species | |
Deirochelys reticularia Latreille, 1801 | |
Species[1] | |
Synonyms[2] | |
Deirochelys is a genus of freshwaterturtle in the familyEmydidae, the pond and marsh turtles. It contains oneextantspecies, thechicken turtle (Deirochelys reticularia), which is native to thesoutheastern United States. A secondextinct member,Deirochelys carri, is known from a fossil found inAlachua County, Florida.[3] The genus was first described byLouis Agassiz in 1857,[4] and its name is derived from theAncient Greek words for "neck" (deirḗ) and "tortoise" (khélūs), referring to the particularly long necks of these turtles.[5]
Like other emydids (members of the family Emydidae),Deirochelys'karyotype consists of 2N=50chromosomes.[6] A 1996 study of various turtles'mitochondrial DNA supported the partition of Emydidae into two subfamilies,Emydinae andDeirochelyinae, withDeirochelys placed within the latter.Deirochelys was reported to be thesister genus to the rest of the subfamily, meaning it shares a common ancestor with the ancestor of all the other genera in Deirochelyinae.[7] Alternative analysis by Stephens and Wiens found that under certain analysesDeirochelys could instead be described as a sister taxon to Emydinae or indeed to the family Emydidae itself. The authors attributed this confusion tolong-branch attraction and concluded thatDeirochelys did indeed sit within Deirochelyinae.[8] Spinks et al. (2009) also foundDeirochelys to be a sister to Emydidae undermaximum parsimony.[9]
It has been proposed thatDeirochelys and the painted turtlesChrysemys are among the mostancient emydids, having diverged from the rest of the emydids more than 24.4 million years ago. The genusDeirochelys itself is thought to have evolved before the end of theClarendonian, over 10.3 million years ago.[10]
Bickham, et al. 1996 |
Spinks, et al. 2009 | |||||||||
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There are two currently accepted species:
A possible third species,D. floridana, was described byOliver Perry Hay in 1908 from a fossil specimen. In 1964, C.G. Jackson determined the specimen to instead beD. reticularia, but in 1974 he reassigned it to the genusChrysemys. Jasinski (2018) reasserted that this turtle did indeed represent a separate species ofDeirochelys.[10]