"Two new river turtle species described"
A few days ago on April 24, 2014, researchers from Florida and Vermont released news that the Largest river turtle in North America, The Alligator Snapping Turtle, is not only just one species but they are two new species. The researchers examined old museum specimens and other turtles to get found the new species. The species that the found live in the southeastern part of the United sates. One of the turtles are called the Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle and it's mainly found in Florida and Georgia. They can be found in the Suwannee River. The Other snapping turtle they discovered was the Apalachicola Alligator Snapping turtle that lives in Alabama, Florida and Georgia in the Aplalchicola River.
According to one the researcher, Joe Roman, they turtles don't migrate to different bodies of water like most turtles do. They are isolated and found in that one body of water that they are found in. They way that the study was conducted was by catching the turtles and gathering blood samples form their tales. After gathering samples, they collected DNA and found that they were "genetically isolated" from other bodies of water. They also examined the skulls and shells of specimens to , they basically used the shell to tell the distinct characteristics of the Macrochelys.
Wonder's why there's so much hype about finding these new species? Well the Alligator Snapping turtle used to be Hunted and used in the 1960s for Campbell's Turtle Soup, ew. I wonder if it was delicious. According to Roman, the turtle soup was served to politicians. They numbers began to drop because hunters could wipe out an entire river.
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The reason why I think this article is interesting because personally, when a new species is found or named it always captures my attention. The article didn't really get into detail about the experimental design, therefore, I can't really comment on their findings. Overall, I found this study interesting, and maybe we'll be about to hear some more about these new species.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424102057.htm
1 comment:
Cool article! Given their slow life history, I wonder how long it might take for these turtle populations to rebound from past overharvesting. I hope that recognizing the distinct species will aid in their protection.
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