100 Joseph C. Mitchell and Ronald Southwick 



Museum of Natural History, USNM 314209) in several rearing ponds 

 on the same site. The hatchery owner could not verify time or source 

 (e.g., shipments of commercial fish) of the turtles. He noted that they 

 have been present for several years. 



The discovery of another population in southeastern Virginia is 

 comparatively more perplexing. In October 1988, an unidentified soft- 

 shell turtle was observed in Lake Whitehurst, City of Norfolk, Virginia 

 (T. Pitchford, personal communication, Virginia Beach Marine Science 

 Museum). Softshells were confirmed in this lake on 2 August 1991 

 when an adult male A. spinifera aspera (196 mm CL, 134 mm PL, 

 574 g body mass, USNM 314210) was collected on hook and line. A 

 large female was taken by another fisherman between 13 August and 

 1 September 1991 but it escaped, and its identity cannot be confirmed. 

 Three juveniles found beneath a boat dock on Lake Whitehurst near 

 Shore Drive on 21 September 1991 were given to the junior author 

 by a local boy who said that the turtles were coming out of the 

 sand. The juveniles averaged 51.0 + 2.0 (SD) mm CL (range = 49- 

 53), 35 ± 1.0 mm PL (range = 34-36), and 13 g (n = 1) body 

 mass. A recent hatchling (38.9 mm CL, 26.6 mm PL, 6 g) was 

 caught in the same area on 12 October 1991. Softshells apparently do 

 not overwinter in the nest in this area, although they may in the 

 upper midwest (Gibbons and Nelson 1978). 



The nearest population of A. spinifer aspera is in Harnett County, 

 North Carolina, 290 km southwest of Norfolk (A. S. Braswell, personal 

 communication, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences). Our Lake 

 Whitehurst records establish A. s. aspera for the first time in Virginia 

 and indicate a substantial distributional hiatus between south-central 

 North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. 



Is the Norfolk population introduced or is it a heretofore undocu- 

 mented natural population? Intensive sampling with large nets during 

 1977-91 by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries 

 revealed no softshells. However, most sampling occurred in early spring 

 (March to early April) before most freshwater turtles and presumably 

 softshells (see Robinson and Murphy 1978) become active in this area 

 (J. C. Mitchell, unpublished data). This particular sampling effort yielded 

 few turtles of any species (R. Southwick, personal observation). Con- 

 siderable effort has been expended in North Carolina and Virginia to 

 determine the distributions of reptilian species within these states (W. 

 M. Palmer and A. L. Braswell, personal communications; J. C. Mitchell 

 and C. A. Pague, unpublished data). In addition, the area of southeastern 

 Virginia and northeastern North Carolina has been a favorite collecting 

 area for decades (e.g., Nemuras 1964; W. M. Palmer and R. de Rageot, 

 personal communication). If present earlier, softshells should have been 



