Emydidae

European pond turtle Emys orbicularis, copyright Nicola Maraspini.

Belongs within: Centrocryptodira.

The Emydidae are a family of mostly aquatic tortoises found primarily in the Americas. The only representatives native elsewhere are species of the genus Emys found in the western Palaearctic region. However, the red-eared slider Trachemys scripta has, through the pet trade, become an invasive species in many parts of the world.

Synapomorphies (from Gaffney & Meylan 1988): Batagurine process absent, no pterygoid-basioccipital contact; angular usually reaching Meckel's cartilage; double articulation of fifth and sixth cervical; chromosome number 2n = 50.

<==Emydidae [Panemydidae]
    |  i. s.: Glyptemys CP03
    |           |--G. insculpta (Le Conte 1830) JPG04
    |           `--G. muhlenbergii (Schoepf 1801) JPG04
    |         Pseudograptemys Hutchison 1996 H96
    |           `--*P. inornata (Loomis 1904) [=Chrysemys inornata, Graptemys inornata; incl. G. cordifera Clark 1937] H96
    |--Emydinae GM88
    |    |--Clemmys Ritgen 1828 GM88, F91
    |    |    |--C. caspica CS77
    |    |    |--C. guttata (Schneider 1792) JPG04
    |    |    |--C. insculpta W-CL06
    |    |    `--C. muhlenbergi MB93
    |    `--+--+--Emydoidea GM88
    |       |  `--Terrapene GM88
    |       |       |--T. carolina (Linnaeus 1758) JPG04
    |       |       |--T. coahuila Schmidt & Owens 1944 JPG04
    |       |       |--T. nelsoni Stejneger 1925 JPG04
    |       |       `--T. ornata (Agassiz 1857) JPG04
    |       `--Emys Dumeriel 1806 GM88, F91
    |            |--E. blandingii (Holbrook 1838) JPG04
    |            |--E. cibollensis Cope 1877 C77
    |            |--E. euthnetus C77
    |            |--E. gravis C77
    |            |--E. lativertebralis Cope 1876 C77
    |            |--E. marmorata Baird & Girard 1852 JPG04
    |            |--E. nebrascensis Leidy 1851 H96
    |            |--E. orbicularis (Linnaeus 1758) K08, L58 [=Testudo orbicularis L58]
    |            |--E. testudineus C77
    |            `--E. vyomingensis C77
    `--Deirochelyinae [Deirochelyoidae] GM88
         |--Malaclemys terrapin (Schoepf 1793) GM88, JPG04
         |--Graptemys GM88
         |    |--G. barbouri Carr & Marchand 1942 JPG04
         |    |--G. caglei Haynes & McKown 1974 JPG04
         |    |--G. ernsti Lovich & McCoy 1992 JPG04
         |    |--G. flavimaculata Cagle 1954 JPG04
         |    |--G. geographica (LeSueur 1817) JPG04
         |    |--G. gibbonsi Lovich & McCoy 1992 JPG04
         |    |--G. kohni CP03
         |    |--G. nigrinoda Cagle 1954 JPG04
         |    |--G. oculifera (Baur 1890) JPG04
         |    |--G. ouachitensis Cagle 1953 JPG04
         |    |--G. pseudogeographica (Gray 1831) JPG04
         |    |--G. pulchra Baur 1893 JPG04
         |    `--G. versa Stejneger 1925 JPG04
         `--+--Chrysemys Gray 1844 GM88, H96
            |    |--C. antiqua (Clark 1937) [=Trachemys antiqua] H96
            |    |--C. bicarinata (Bell 1849) B93
            |    |--C. picta (Schneider 1783) [=Testudo picta] JPG04
            |    |--C. scripta B81
            |    |--C. testudiniformis (Owen 1844) B93
            |    `--C. timida Hay 1908 H96
            `--+--Deirochelys reticularia (Latreille 1801) GM88, JPG04
               `--+--Pseudemys GM88
                  |    |--P. alabamensis Baur 1893 JPG04
                  |    |--P. concinna (Le Conte 1830) JPG04 [=Chrysemys concinna R93]
                  |    |--P. floridana (Le Conte 1830) JPG04
                  |    |--P. nelsoni Carr 1938 JPG04
                  |    |--P. rubriventris (Le Conte 1830) JPG04
                  |    |--P. scripta B81
                  |    |--P. texana Baur 1893 JPG04
                  |    `--P. troosti D56
                  `--Trachemys GM88
                       |--T. adiutrix (Vanzolini 1995) JPG04
                       |--T. callirostris (Gray 1855) JPG04
                       |--T. decorata (Barbour & Carr 1940) JPG04
                       |--T. decussata (Gray 1831) JPG04
                       |--T. dorbigni (Dumeril & Bibron 1835) JPG04
                       |--T. emolli (Legler 1990) JPG03
                       |--T. gaigeae (Hartweg 1939) JPG04
                       |--T. grayi CP03
                       |--T. nebulosa (Van Denburgh 1895) JPG04
                       |--T. ornata (Gray 1831) JPG04
                       |--T. scripta (Schoepf 1792) JPG04
                       |    |--T. s. scripta W-CL06
                       |    |--T. s. elegans W-CL06
                       |    `--T. s. trootsi W-CL06
                       |--T. stejnegeri (Schmidt 1928) JPG04
                       |--T. taylori (Legler 1960) JPG04
                       |--T. terrapen (Bonnaterre 1789) JPG04
                       |--T. venusta (Gray 1855) JPG04
                       `--T. yaquia (Legler & Webb 1970) JPG04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B93] Benton, M. J. 1993. Reptilia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 681–715. Chapman & Hall: London.

[B81] Brooks, D. R. 1981. Raw similarity measures of shared parasites: an empirical tool for determining host phylogenetic relationships? Systematic Zoology 30 (2): 203–207.

[CP03] Claude, J., E. Paradis, H. Tong & J.-C. Auffray. 2003. A geometric morphometric assessment of the effects of environment and cladogenesis on the evolution of the turtle shell. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 79: 485–501.

[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[D56] Dawes, B. 1956. The Trematoda with special reference to British and other European forms. University Press: Cambridge.

[F91] Freess, W. B. 1991. Beiträge zur Kenntnis von Fauna und Flora des marinen Mitteloligozäns bei Leipzig. Altenburger Naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen 6: 3–74.

[GM88] Gaffney, E. S., & P. A. Meylan. 1988. A phylogeny of turtles. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds pp. 157–219. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[H96] Hutchison, J. H. 1996. Testudines. In: Prothero, D. R., & R. J. Emry (eds) The Terrestrial Eocene–Oligocene Transition in North America pp. 337–353. Cambridge University Press.

[JPG04] Joyce, W. G., J. F. Parham & J. A. Gauthier. 2004. Developing a protocol for the conversion of rank-based taxon names to phylogenetically defined clade names, as exemplified by turtles. Journal of Paleontology 78 (5): 989–1013.

[K08] Korsós, Z. 2008. History of the herpetological collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 100: 37–93.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[MB93] Malecki, R. A., B. Blossey, S. D. Hight, D. Schroeder, L. T. Kok & J. R. Coulson. 1993. Biological control of purple loosestrife. BioScience 43 (10): 680–686.

[R93] Rieppel, O. 1993. Patterns of diversity in the reptilian skull. In: Hanken, J., & B. K. Hall (eds) 1993. The Skull vol. 2. Patterns of Structural and Systematic Diversity pp. 344–390. The University of Chicago Press.

[W-CL06] Watkins-Colwell, G. J., T. A. Leenders, B. T. Roach, D. J. Drew, G. Dancho & J. Yuckienuz. 2006. New distribution records for amphibians and reptiles in Connecticut, with notes on the status of an introduced species. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 47 (1–2): 47–62.

Last updated: 8 December 2021.