A Taxonomic Analysis of Pseudemyd Turtles 



(Testudines: Emydidae) from the New River, 



and Phenetic Relationships in the Subgenus Pseudemys 



Michael E. Seidel 



Biological Sciences and N. Bayard Green Museum, 

 Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia 25701 



ABSTRACT. — The morphology and geographical origin of a disjunct 

 population of aquatic turtles, genus Pseudemys (- Chrysemys auct.) in 

 the New River of Virginia and West Virginia are analyzed. Previous 

 identification of these turtles as "Chrysemys" floridana is reappraised 

 by comparison of shell proportions, color patterns, and cranial morph- 

 ology to those of other species and subspecies of Pseudemys (sensu 

 stricto). Discriminant analysis of 28 cranial characters broadly separ- 

 ates redbelly turtles (P. rubriventris, P. nelsoni, P. alabamensis) from 

 New River Pseudemys and most populations of P. concinna and P. 

 floridana. Based on morphological similarities, New River Pseudemys 

 are identified as eastern river cooters, P. c. concinna. Natural history 

 information and recent extensions of the known range suggest that 

 Pseudemys in the New River represents a natural, established popula- 

 tion. A late Pleistocene dispersal of cooters from the Virginia-North 

 Carolina Piedmont Plateau into the New River is proposed. 



INTRODUCTION 



Bayless (1972) reported a population of cooter turtles in the New 

 River at Bluestone Reservoir, Summers County, West Virginia. This 

 locality is in the southern part of the state where the New River, a 

 Kanawha-Ohio River tributary, enters from Virginia (Fig. 1). He tenta- 

 tively identified the turtles in Bluestone Reservoir as "Chrysemys" flori- 

 dana, without assigning them to subspecies. This population is broadly 

 disjunct from the range of cooters in the Mississippi and lower Ohio 

 River valleys and is isolated by the Atlantic-Ohio divide from the near- 

 est populations in the Virginia and North Carolina Piedmont Plateau 

 (Fig. 1). 



Despite a thorough analysis of key morphological characters, Bay- 

 less (1972) failed to clearly establish the taxonomic status and probable 

 geographical origin of the New River Pseudemys. This was unavoidable 

 due to the poorly understood systematic and distributional relationships 

 between Pseudemys floridana (LeConte) and Pseudemys concinna 

 (LeConte) in northern parts of their ranges (Crenshaw 1955; Minton 

 1972; Pritchard 1979; Martof et al. 1980). Further uncertainty deve- 

 loped when Bayless' voucher specimens at the National Museum of 

 Natural History (USNM 192635-7) were reidentified in 1973 as redbelly 

 turtles, Pseudemys rubriventris (LeConte) (Fran I. McCullough, pers. 



Brimleyana No. 6: 25^44. December 1981. 25 



