Additional Turtle Records for Kansas

Abstract

Because of the paucity of such information, the following records are reported. A young map turtle, Graptemys geographica was collected by the author on August 31, 1953, in Long Creek, 1/4 mi. S. of Melvern, Osage County. The carapace measurements are: length, 43 mm.; width, 38 mm. The plastron measures 36 mm. in length and 25 mm. in width between the bridge centers. Long Creek flows from northern Coffey County through southern Osage, joining the Marais des Cygnes River northeast of Melvern. It is a twisting stream, characterized by numerous deep holes alternating with rocky riffles. The banks are high and wooded and most of the bottom is mud, but there are several stretches of rock bottom. Other aquatic turtles inhabiting this creek are: spiny soft-shelled turtle, Amyda ferox hartwegi Conant and Goin; common snapping turtle, Chelydra s. serpentina (Linnaeus); painted turtle, Chrysemys picta bellii (Gray); elegant slider, Pseudemys scripta elegans (Wied); and false map turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii (Gray) (a single record). The map turtle here recorded is No. 418 in the collection of the author. This species has also been reported from the following Kansas counties: Anderson, Crawford, Franklin, Montgomery, Riley, and Wilson (Smith, 1950). A large female saw-toothed slider, Pseudemys floridana hoyi (No. 675 in collection of K.S.T.C., Emporia), was presented to the college soon after capture by Mrs. Robert Palmer, of Emporia, whose husband collected the turtle as it was crossing a road at the north end of the lake in Crawford County State Park No. 2, 1 mi. N., 1 mi. E. of Farlington, Kansas, on July 4, 1953. At the point where the turtle was captured, the lake is just south of the road and the West Fork of Drywood Creek is a short distance to the north. The turtle was moving in direction of the creek. This slider is a completely aquatic turtle (Smith, 1950), and probably, like its neighboring subspecies, P. f. heiroglyphica, is found away from the water only during emergence due to nesting activity (Cahn, 1937). As