Rio Grande cooter
Species of turtle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rio Grande cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to northeastern Mexico and the adjacent southwestern United States.
| Rio Grande cooter | |
|---|---|
| |
| Rio Grande Cooter at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas | |
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| A baby Rio Grande Cooter from Kinney County, Texas | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Cryptodira |
| Family: | Emydidae |
| Genus: | Pseudemys |
| Species: | P. gorzugi |
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudemys gorzugi | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
| |
Geographic range
The Rio Grande cooter is found in the Rio Grande drainage of Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas), New Mexico, and Texas.[2][3] In the Texas portion of the Pecos River, an approximately 390 kilometer distributional gap exists from Loving and Reeves counties into Crockett County, possibly due to unsuitable conductivity levels.[4] A record from near the San Saba River in Menard County, Texas[5] has been confirmed as erroneous.[6]
Habitat
Reproduction
Diet
Etymology
The specific name, gorzugi, is in honor of George R. Zug, the Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History.[12][13]
