Kinosternidae

Kinosternon cruentatum, photographed by Zippo Zimmermann.

Belongs within: Trionychoidea.

The Kinosternidae of North and South America include the musk turtles, so called because of their production of a foul-smelling substance from glands under the tail when disturbed.

Synapomorphies (from Gaffney & Meylan 1988): Ten pairs of peripherals; abdominal scales absent; no ribs connecting ninth and tenth vertebrae to eight costal; frontal not reaching orbit; maxilla contacting quadratojugal; ilio-ischial notch in acetabulum; incised anterior musk duct.

<==Kinosternidae
    |  i. s.: Sternotherus WA98
    |           |--+--+--S. carinatus WA98
    |           |  |  `--S. depressus WA98
    |           |  `--S. minor WA98
    |           |       |--S. m. minor WA98
    |           |       `--S. m. peltifer WA98
    |           `--S. odoratus WA98
    |         Xenochelys formosa WA98
    |--Staurotypinae GM88
    |    |--Staurotypus GM88
    |    `--Claudius GM88
    `--Kinosternon GM88
         |--K. baurii WA98
         |--K. flavescens WA98
         |--K. scorpioides DS86
         `--K. subrubrum WA98
              |--K. s. subrubrum WA98
              |--K. s. hippocrepis WA98
              `--K. s. steindachneri WA98

REFERENCES

[DS86] Dixon, J. R. & P. Soini. 1986. The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru. Milwaukee Public Museum: Milwaukee.

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

[WA98] Walker, D., & J. C. Avise. 1998. Principles of phylogeography as illustrated by freshwater and terrestrial turtles in the southeastern United States. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 23-58.