Ringed Map Turtle

Maximum longevity: 20.3 years (captivity)

Continent: North-America
Distribution: USA (Mississippi, Louisiana: Pearl River system)
Type locality: œMandeville, La., restricted to œthe Pearl River, 26 miles east of Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana by Cagle (1953b:138).

Malacoclemmys oculifera Baur, 1890

[= Graptemys oculifera (Baur, 1890); fide, Baur, 1893b:675, Cagle, 1953b:137, McCoy and Vogt, 1988:422.1]

Baur, 1890, Science 16(405):262.

Syntypes: USNM 15508 (alcoholic female, CL 203 mm); USNM 15509 (alcoholic female, CL 181 mm); USNM 15510 (adult female, skeleton, CL 206 mm, see “Remarks”); USNM 15511 (alcoholic female, CL 167 mm); all from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, collected by Gustave Kohn, Jun 1889.

Type Locality: “Mandeville, La.,” restricted to “the Pearl River, 26 miles east of Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana” by Cagle (1953b:138).

Other Type Material: Syntype: MCZ 6430.

Etymology: The name oculifera is from the Latin oculus, eye, and the Greek phero, to bear; refers to the well-developed ocellated pattern on the pleural scutes.

Remarks: The original catalog record states New Orleans is the locality of the syntype series. However, the specimens were collected at Mandeville (Baur, 1890) and were undoubtedly shipped from New Orleans, where Gustave Kohn resided. The disassociation of the dry skull of USNM 15510 (syntype of Malacoclemmys oculifera Baur, 1890; skull originally cataloged as USNM Osteo 29539 in the former Division of Comparative Anatomy) from the postcranial portion of the specimen caused confusion in the National Collection, with the result that a second USNM catalog number was assigned to the misplaced skull. A cleaned, unnumbered turtle skull was discovered in the skeletal collection in the same box with the cleaned skull of USNM 8808, one of the syntypes of Graptemys pulchra (now paralectotype USNM 318254). Cagle (1952) examined the two skulls associated with USNM 8808 and identified the larger skull as belonging to the alcoholic, headless female USNM 8808. He also thought that the second skull was “probably the skull of a female of G. oculifera.” The unnumbered Graptemys oculifera skull was cataloged as USNM 252600 in 1985. During the curation of the type turtle collection in 1995, it was discovered that the dry skull of USNM 15510 was missing. Subsequent investigation revealed that the skull cataloged as USNM 252600 (formerly USNM Osteo 29539) actually belonged to USNM 15510. The skull has been labeled USNM 15510 and reassociated with the remainder of specimen USNM 15510. See also “Remarks” under Graptemys pulchra Baur, 1893:675. Only USNM 15511 was identified by number in the original description. Cochran (1961) listed USNM 15511 as the holotype and USNM 15508–15510 as paratypes. We follow Cagle (1953b:138), however, and consider the specimens to be syntypes.

The ringed map turtle or ringed sawback (Graptemys oculifera) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae endemic to the southern United States.