Eastern box turtle

Eastern box turtle
Eastern box turtle in Southern Illinois
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Emydidae
Genus: Terrapene
Species:
Subspecies:
T. c. carolina
Trinomial name
Terrapene carolina carolina
Synonyms[3]
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  • Testudo carolina Linnaeus, 1758
  • Testudo carinata Linnaeus, 1758
  • Testudo brevicaudata
    Lacépède, 1788
  • Testudo incarcerata Bonnaterre, 1789
  • Testudo incarceratostriata Bonnaterre, 1789
  • Testudo clausa Gmelin, 1789
  • Testudo virgulata Latreille, 1801
  • Testudo caroliniana Daudin, 1801 (ex errore)
  • Emydes clausa Brongniart, 1805
  • Emys clausa Schweigger, 1812
  • Emys schneideri Schweigger, 1812
  • Emys virgulata – Schweigger, 1812
  • Didicla clausa Rafinesque, 1815
  • Terrapene clausa Merrem, 1820
  • Monoclida kentukensis
    Rafinesque, 1822
  • Cistudo clausa Say, 1825
  • Terrapene carolina Bell, 1825
  • Terrapene maculata Bell, 1825
  • Terrapene nebulosa Bell, 1825
  • Terraphene clausa Gray, 1825
  • Terrapene virgulata Fitzinger, 1826
  • Emys tritentaculata
    Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1829
    (nomen nudum)
  • Emys (Cistuda) carolinae Gray, 1831 (ex errore)
  • Emys kinosternoides Gray, 1831
  • Testudo irregulata Daudin, 1831 (nomen nudum)
  • Cistuda carolina – Gray, 1831
  • Didicla clausa – Rafinesque, 1832
  • Emys cinosternoides A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1835 (ex errore)
  • Emys schneiderii A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1835 (ex errore)
  • Testudo incarceratastriata A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1835 (ex errore)
  • Cinosternon clausum – Henle, 1839
  • Pyxidemys clausa – Fitzinger, 1843
  • Terrapene carolina maculata
    LeConte, 1854
  • Terrapene carolina nebulosa
    – LeConte, 1854
  • Cistudo carolinensis Gray, 1856 (ex errore)
  • Cistudo carolina Agassiz, 1857
  • Cistudo virginea Agassiz, 1857
  • Terrapene carinata Strauch, 1862
  • Cistudo eurypygia Cope, 1869
  • Cistudo carinata Garman, 1884
  • Cistudo carolina var. cinosternoides Boulenger, 1889
  • Cinosternum clausum
    – Hoffmann, 1890
  • Cistudo cinosternoides
    – Garman, 1892
  • Terrapene eurypygia
    O.P. Hay, 1902
  • Terrapene cinosternoides
    Siebenrock, 1909
  • Terrapene carolina carolina
    Stejneger & Barbour, 1917
  • Terrapene cardlina Proctor, 1922 (ex errore)
  • Terepene carolina – Breder, 1924
  • Terrapene kinosternoides
    – Lindholm, 1929
  • Terrapene caritana Schmidt, 1953 (ex errore)
  • Terrapene carolinensis – Schmidt, 1953
  • Terrapene carolinina Schmidt, 1953 (ex errore)

The eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a subspecies within a group of hinge-shelled turtles normally called box turtles. T. c. carolina is native to the Eastern United States.

The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of the common box turtle (Terrapene carolina). While in the pond turtle family, Emydidae, and not a tortoise, the box turtle is largely terrestrial.[4] Box turtles are slow crawlers, extremely long-lived, and slow to mature and have relatively few offspring per year. These characteristics, along with a propensity to get hit by cars and agricultural machinery, make all box turtle species particularly susceptible to anthropogenic, or human-induced, mortality.

In 2011, citing "a widespread persistent and ongoing gradual decline of Terrapene carolina that probably exceeds 32% over three generations", the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) downgraded its conservation status from near threatened to vulnerable.[1]

  1. ^ a b van Dijk, P.P. (2011). "Terrapene carolina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011: e.T21641A97428179.
  2. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^ Fritz, Uwe; Peter Havaš (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 197–198. doi:10.3897/vz.57.e30895. S2CID 87809001.
  4. ^ Fredericksen, Todd S. (2014). "Thermal Regulation and Habitat Use of the Eastern Box Turtle in Southwestern Virginia". Northeastern Naturalist. 21 (4): 554–564. doi:10.1656/045.021.0406. S2CID 84530318 – via UGA.