Favoritos de oliver_g_jones

Two males fought for control of my pool deck. The greener one ended up winning when it successfully shoved the other off the edge. Here's a short video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDKqu1oqkjY

White Rock lake, lower spillway steps
As I was photographing the map turtle, a snake suddenly swam into my frame. A reptilian photobomber. The turtles did not interest the snake & it quickly left the scene. Check out the toenails in the cooter on top in the second photo, clearly a male.

This is not a captive occurrence. Posted to iNaturalist with permission of collector, Danny Ramirez, who gave me all information reported here. His location as reported is "Guadalupe River 30 yards downstream of dam in Gonzales". Collected on hook and line with crappie as bait. Intent is for specimen to eventually be deposited at the University of Texas', Biodiversity Collections.

Similar in size and shape to the dwarf gouramis I kept as a kid. Escaped aquarium fish? Multiple seen at this location. Individual I watched was territorial and chased off anything that came to close (sailfin molly and eastern mosquito fish)

NUMBER: 20200722
SPECIES: Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata (Schneider, 1792)[1]
DISTINCTIONS: None to 100 round yellow to orange spots on the carapace (upper shell), and upper legs and head (diagnostic). Undersides orange to yellow with large black blotches on the plastron (lower shell). Orange blotches on both sides of the head. Hatchlings have 1 spot per carapace scute. This is a small semiterrestrial turtle.
LOCALITY: Lely Resort, Naples, Florida
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 26°4’51.2” N, 81°42’39.2” W (26.0809, -81.7109)
DATE: 22 July 2020
PHOTOGRAPH: by Catherine Helgeson
KNOWN DISTRIBUTION: Around the eastern half of the Great Lakes disconnected to a range from extreme southern Maine down the eastern coast to halfway down peninsular Florida (Ernst et al., 2009). Our record represents a considerable range extension.
STATUS: Endangered Species reduced to small isolated populations vulnerable to extirpation.
IMPORTANCE: Range extension
OBSERVERS: Dr. Ernest H. Williams, Jr.,[2,3,5,6] and Dr. Lucy Bunkley-Williams[2,4,5,7]
AFILIATIONS, ADDRESSES: [2]Extraordinary Professors, Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, South Africa; Adjunct Professors, Research Field Station, Florida Gulf Coast University, 5164 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL 34134; [3]Dept. Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico (retired); [4]Dept. Biology, UPR (retired); [5]920 St. Andrews Blvd, Naples, FL 34113-8943; [6]e-mail ermest.williams1@upr.edu; cell 239-227-3645, ORCID 0000-0003-0913-3013; [7]Cell 787-467-2179, e-mail lucy.williams1@upr.edu, ORCID 0000-0003-1390-911x.
REFERENCES:
<>Ernst, C. H., and J. E. Lovich. 2009. Pages 212-221 In: 2nd Edition, C. N. Ernst (Ed.). Turtles of the United States and Canada. John Hopkins University Press, 827 pp.
<>Williams, E. H., Jr. and L. Bunkley-Williams. 2020. A new Geographic Record of the endangered Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata (Schneider, 1792), in south Florida. Research Quality Report, iNaturalist #55992379, 8 August (open access) [520]
FOOTNOTES:
[1]Identification was peer-reviewed, text edited and condensed. The entire, original text is in our available reprint 520.

Spotted it run across the street earlier today. Relocated it with my camera in a neighbor's tree.
(Update: 5/22/23) Saw this healthy individual again a few days ago. Still on the lookout for others or possibly hybrids.

Dead on side of road. Carcass was collected and dissected as part of the Crocodile Research Coalition's conservation work. Showed internal bleeding on left side of body, so possibly hit by a car. However, it also had a large slash in its neck (photo 4) and what looked like teeth marks on its head (photo 7), so it may have been killed by a jaguar. Had two fishing hooks in its stomach (photo 8). Location represents where the specimen was found.