Pelodiscus maackii
(Brandt, 1858)
PEL-oh-DIS-kus — MAHK-ee-eye
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Newly listed species. Native to eastern Russia, northeastern China, Korea, and possibly Japan. It is established on O'ahu, Hawai'i (Dong et al., 2016, Conservation Genetics 17: 207–220). It was not listed in Meshaka et al. (2022, Exotic Amphibians and Reptiles of the United States. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida).
(Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.06.09.33.47)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.02 MB
Province/State Distribution:
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a Russian explorer.
Pelodiscus — From Greek pelos (πηλός), “mud,” and Latin discus, “disc.” Refers to the flattened, disc-like shape and mud-dwelling habits of the turtle—“mud disc.”
maackii — A patronym honoring Richard Otto Maack (1825–1886), a Russian naturalist and explorer known for expeditions in Siberia and the Russian Far East.
First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
The Reptile Database
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
|
1858
|
Brandt, Johann F Observationes quaedam ad generis Trionychum species duas novas spectantes. Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathematique de L'Academie Imperiale des Sciences 16(7):110-111
|
|
2016
|
Dong, Caroline M., Tag N. Engstrom, and Robert C. Thomson. Origins of softshell turtles in Hawaii with implications
for conservation. Conservation Genetics 17:207-220
|
|
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
|