Apalone

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Cladus: Archelosauria
Division: Pan-Testudines
Division: Testudinata
Ordo: Testudines
Subordo: Cryptodira
Superfamilia: Trionychoidea

Familia: Trionychidae
Subfamilia: Trionychinae
Genus: Apalone
Species: A. ferox - A. mutica - A. spinifera
Name
Apalone (Rafinesque, 1832)

Apalone is a genus of turtles in the family Trionychidae. Species of Apalone are native to North America.

Geographic range

Most Apalone species are restricted to the United States, though the range of the spiny softshell, A. spinifera, extends into southern Canada and northern Mexico.
Taxonomy

Apalone is a fairly new classification, resurrected by Meylan in 1987,[2] assigned to North American species of the genus Trionyx. They are still listed as Trionyx in some texts. (Trionyx now refers specifically to certain softshell species found mainly in Africa.)
Sexual dimorphism

Turtles of the genus Apalone exhibit marked sexual dimorphism. In carapace length, females grow to about twice the size of males. In males, the claws on the front feet are longer than those on the back feet, but in females, the claws on the back feet are longer. In males, the stout tail extends well beyond the posterior edge of the carapace, but in females, the relatively thinner tail barely reaches the edge of the carapace.[3]
Behavior

Apalone turtles are fast swimmers that chase down their prey in water. They feed mainly on fish. They also like the comfort of sand as their bedding.
Species

The following three species are recognized as being valid.[4]

Apalone ferox (Schneider, 1783) – Florida softshell turtle - South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama
Apalone mutica (Lesueur, 1827) – smooth softshell turtle - United States, east of the Rocky Mountains
Apalone spinifera (Lesueur, 1827) – spiny softshell turtle - Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec), most of the United States, and northeastern Mexico.

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Apalone.
References

Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). Checklist of Chelonians of the World. Dresden: Museum für Tierkunde Dresden.
Meylan PA (1987). "The phylogenetic relationships of soft-shelled turtles (family Trionychidae)". Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. 186: 1-101.
Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3. (SOFTSHELL TURTLES—family Trionychidae, p. 30).

"Apalone ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.