Notes on the Spiny Softshell, Apalone spinifera 

 (Testudines: Trionychidae), in Southeastern Virginia 



Joseph C. Mitchell 



Department of Biology University of Richmond 



Richmond, Virginia 231 73 



AND 



Ronald Southwick 1 



Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries 



6530 Indian River Road 



Virginia Beach, Virginia 23464 



ABSTRACT— The Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera 

 aspera), collected in Lake Whitehurst, Norfolk, Virginia, represents 

 the first record of this subspecies for the state. The eastern spiny 

 softshell (Apalone spinifera spinifera) occurs naturally in the Ten- 

 nessee and Ohio drainages in southwestern Virginia. Based on avail- 

 able evidence, the Norfolk population and a population of the nomi- 

 nate subspecies in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, also reported 

 here, should be considered isolated, introduced, and established 

 populations. 



Apalone spinfera is a wide-ranging species in North America 

 occurring from the Rio Grande River northeastward through the midwest 

 to the Great Lakes region and eastward through the Carolinas to the 

 Atlantic Ocean (Ernst and Barbour 1972, Conant and Collins 1991). 

 Seven subspecies are recognized (Ernst and Barbour 1989, Iverson 

 1992), of which one, Apalone spinifera spinifera, occurs naturally in 

 the Tennessee River drainage in southwestern Virginia (Tobey 1985). 

 Recent discoveries of populations of this species in southeastern Virginia 

 raise questions about the occurrence of a second subspecies in the 

 state and demonstrate that introduced populations can become esta- 

 blished in this area. 



On 25 June 1991, a large female A. spinifera spinifera (370 

 mm carapace length [CL], 283 mm plastron length [PL], and 5.5 kg 

 body mass) was discovered adjacent to a commercial fish rearing pond, 

 4.8 km east of Windsor, Isle of Wight County, Virginia; she was 

 released. Subsequent observations (5 July and 24 October 1991) and 

 captures (9 November 1991) revealed at least four other adults (a 

 male 262 mm CL, 184 mm PL, 1,550 g, The Living Museum, Newport 

 News, Virginia) and one juvenile (111 mm CL, 85 mm PL, National 



'Present address: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, 2006 South 

 Main Street, Suite C, Blackburg, VA 24060. 



Brimleyana 18:99-102, June 1993 99 



