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Reptilia    Testudines    Emydidae  
Florida Red-bellied Cooter
Pseudemys nelsoni Carr, 1938
SOO-deh-meez — NEL-son-eye
Taxon Links
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Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
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USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 6,426 Total; 1,092 Museum; 5,334 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2023.04.10.09.45.15)
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Polygon Range File Museum Literature Fossil Personal Observation Citizen Science

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida Georgia Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a Harvard zoologist and taxidermist.
Pseudemys — From Greek pseudes (ψευδής, “false”) and emydos (from Emys, the Old-World pond turtle). The coiners meant “false Emys,” signaling that, though these turtles resemble Emys, they are not members of that genus.
nelsoni — A patronym honoring George T. Nelson (1872–1927), an American zoologist and preparator. Although he did not publish widely, he played a significant role in fieldwork and specimen collection in the southeastern U.S. including the turtle that served as the holotype for the species description.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Florida Red-bellied Terrapin (Pseudemys nelsoni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Florida Red-bellied Turtle (Pseudemys nelsoni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);


Selected References:
1938 Carr, Archie F., Jr. Pseudemys nelsoni, a new turtle from Florida. Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History (8):305-310
1978 Jackson, Dale R. Chrysemys nelsoni.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (210):1-2
1980 Vogt, Richard C. and Clarence J. McCoy, Jr. Status of the emydine turtle genera Chrysemys and Pseudemys. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 49(5):93-102
1996 Seidel, Michael E. and Carl H. Ernst. Pseudemys. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (625):1-7
1997 Siedel, Michael E. and Uwe fritz. Courtship behavior provides additional evidence for a monophyletic Pseudemys, and comments on Mesoamerican Trachemys (Testudines: Emydidae). Herpetological Review 28(2):70-72

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