Abstract
A large river turtle Dermatemys mawei, found only in the coastal lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico, is becoming rare throughout most of its restricted range. It is found from central Veracruz, Mexico, eastward through Guatemala and Belize, but not in the Yucatan Peninsula, and it is heavily hunted for its meat. The only living representative of the Dermatemydidae, a turtle family known from as early as the Cretaceous, its closest living relatives are the mud turtles (Kinosternidae), and it is not as closely related to the snapping turtles (Chelydridae) as previously thought.4,5,9,20 In the latest classification of turtles the Dermatemydidae are placed in the Superfamily Trionychoidea of the Infraorder Cryptodira.
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