THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Testudines    Chelydridae  

Western Alligator Snapping Turtle
Macrochelys temminckii (Harlan, 1835)

Current SSAR Comments:
The standard English name is changed from Alligator Snapping Turtle to differentiate it from the Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle. Western Alligator Snapping Turtle is in use, e.g., Munscher et al. (2021, Herpetology Notes 14: 985–994) and Rhodin et al. (2021 Chelonian Research Monographs (8): 1–472).

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.09.21.53.11)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.51 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Temminck's Snapper (Macroclemys temminckii: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Mississippi Snapper (Macrochelys lacertina: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys lacertina: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Caoune (Macrochelys lacertina: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Alligator Snapper (Macrochelys lacertina: Davis, N. S. Jr. and Frank L. Rice. 1883. Descriptive catalogue of North American batrachia and reptilia, found east of Mississippi River. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 1(5):71); Alligator Snapper (Macrochelys lacertina: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temminckii: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Logger-head (Macrocheyls lacertina: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Caouana (Macrocheyls lacertina: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Alligator-snapper (Macrochelys temminckii: Stejneger, Leonard and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); Alligator Snapper (Macrochelys temminckii: Strecker, John K. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Pertinent LIterature:
1835 Harlan, Richard. Medical and Physical Resources; Or Original Memoirs in Medicine, Surgery, Phsyiology, Geology, Zoology, and Comparative Anatomy. Lydia R. Bailey, Philadelphia. 163pp.
2014 Thomas, Travis M., Michael C. Granatosky, Jason R. Bourque, Kenneth L. Krysko, Paul E. Moler, Tony Gamble, Eric Suarez, Erin Leone, Kevin M. Enge, and Joe Roman. Taxonomic assessment of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Chelydridae: Macrochelys), with the description of two new species from the southeastern United States. Zootaxa 3786(2):141-165
2015 Folt, Brian and Craig Guyer. Evaluating recent taxonomic changes for Alligator Snapping Turtles (Testudines: Chelydridae). Zootaxa 3947(3):447-450
2021 Rhodin, Anders G. J., John B. Iverson, Roger Bour, Uwe Fritz, Arthur Georges, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Peter Paul van Dijk. Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: First checklist and review of extinct pleistocene and holocene chelonians. Chelonian Research Monographs (8):1-472
2021 Munscher, Eric, Valeria Gladkaya , Jeff Stein, Brian P. Butterfield , Rachel Adams , Jordan Gray , Arron Tuggle, Andrew S. Weber, Kelly Norrid , and Andrew Walde Movements of Western Alligator Snapping Turtles, Macrochelys temminckii (Testudines, Chelydridae), in an urban ecosystem: Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas Herpetology Notes 14():985-994

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 02:35 CT