THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Testudines    Emydidae  

Big Bend Slider
Trachemys gaigeae (Hartweg, 1939)
trak-EM-ees — gay-GEE-ee

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Forstner et al. (2014, Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on the Natural Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region) and Parham et al. (2015, Proceedings of the California Academy of Science 62: 359–367) elevated T. g. hartwegi (extralimital) to species status based on genetic differences between it and T. g. gaigeae. Parham et al. (2015, op. cit.) also demonstrated the close relatedness of T. hartwegi to T. taylori and T. venustus. Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2021, Chelonian Research Monographs (8): 1–472) accepted this arrangement.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.08)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.28 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: New Mexico Texas

First instance(s) of published English names:
Big Ben Terrapin (Pseudemys scripta gaigeae: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Rio Grande Turtle (Pseudemys scripta gaigeae: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1939 Hartweg, Norman. Further notes on the Pseudemys scripta complex. Copeia 1939(1):55
1960 Legler, John M. Remarks on the natural history of the big bend slider, Pseudemys scripta gaigeae Hartweg. Herpetologica 16:139-140
1992 Ernst, Carl H. Trachemys gaigeae Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (538):1-4
1997 Starkey, David E. Molecular systematics and biogeography of the New World turtle genera Trachemys and Kinosternon. Dissertation. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas.. 149pp.
1999 Seidel, Michael E., James N. Stuart, and William G. Degenhardt. Variation and species status of slider turtles (Emydidae: Trachemys) in the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico. Herpetologica 55(4):470-487
2002 Seidel, Michael E. Taxonomic observations on extant species and subspecies of slider turtles, genus Trachemys. Journal of Herpetology 36(2):285-292
2004 Stuart, James N. and Ernst, Carl H. Trachemys gaigeae Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (787):1-6
2012 Seidel, Michael E. and Ernst, Carl H. Trachemys Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (891):1-17
2014 Forstner, Michael R., James R. Dixon, T. M. Guerra, J. M. Winters, James N. Stuart, and S. K. Davis. Status of US populations of the Big Bend slider (Trachemys gaigeae). Pages 14-17 in Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on the Natural Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert Region , . pp.
2015 Parham, James F., Theodore J. Papenfuss, J. R. Buskirk, G. Parra-Olea, J. Y. Chen, and W. Brian Simison. Trachemys ornata or not ornata: Reassessment of a taxonomic revision for Mexican Trachemys. Proceedings of the California Academy of Science 62:359-367
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

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 13 June 2025 05:43 CT