Sternotherus

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: Chelydroidea
Familia: Kinosternidae
Subfamilia: Kinosterninae
Genus: Sternotherus
Species: †

S. bonevalleyensis – S. carinatus – S. depressus – S. minor – S. odoratus – †
S. palaeodorus

Name

Sternotherus　Gray, 1825
Vernacular names
English: Musk turtle
日本語: ニオイガメ属
Türkçe: Misk kaplumbağası

Sternotherus is a genus of aquatic turtles, known commonly as musk turtles, in the family Kinosternidae. The genus is endemic to North America and is closely related to Kinosternon.[2] The most wide ranging species of Sternotherus is Sternotherus odoratus, the eastern musk turtle or stinkpot; that entry has more information on the ecology of this group of turtles.

Etymology

The generic name Sternotherus is Greek meaning hinged breast or chest, referring to the hinged plastron.[3] The trivial names, or specific epithets include: carinatus – Latin for keeled in reference to the shape of the carapace;[4] depressus – Latin for pressed down or low also referring to the shape of the carapace;[5] intermedius – Latin for intermediate, historically believed to be a hybrid from between S. minor and S. peltifer;[6] minor – Latin referencing its relatively small size compared to S. carinatus;[7] odoratus – Latin for having an odor, referring the smell of the musk produced by its scent glands;[8] peltifer – Latin meaning bearing a small shield, in reference to the small size of the scutes on the bridge the species.[7][2]: 647-648 pp.
Taxonomy

Genus

Sternotherus Bell, 1825[9]> – musk turtles

Extant species

Sternotherus carinatus (Gray, 1855)[10] – razor-backed musk turtle
Sternotherus depressus Tinkle & Webb, 1955[11] – flattened musk turtle
Sternotherus intermedius Scott, Glenn & Rissler, 2018[6] – intermediate musk turtle
Sternotherus minor (Agassiz, 1857)[12] – loggerhead musk turtle
Sternotherus odoratus (Latreille, 1801)[13] – eastern musk turtle[14]
Sternotherus peltifer (Smith & Glass, 1947)[15] – stripe-necked musk turtle

Fossil species

†Sternotherus palaeodorus (Bourque & Schubert, 2015)[16] (known from the Miocene—Pliocene fossil remains)

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

Turtles in the genus Sternotherus are very similar to the American mud turtles in the genus Kinosternon, but tend to have a more domed carapace, with a distinctive keel down the center of it. Sternotherus odoratus typically grows to only 8–14 cm (3.1–5.5 in) in straight carapace length at full maturity, with females often being larger than males.
Distribution

The genus Sternotherus is endemic to North America. It occurs in the approximant eastern third of the USA and extreme southeast Ontario, Canada. The eastern musk turtle (S. odoratus), the most wide-ranging species of the genus, occurs in southern Maine, south to Florida, west into eastern Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and north to southeast Wisconsin, southern Michigan, and the Great Lakes region of southern Ontario. It is generally absent from higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. The other species in the genus largely occur within the southern regions of the eastern musk turtle's range. Two species have relatively limited distributions, the flattened musk turtle (S. depressus) is endemic to Alabama and the intermediate musk turtle (S. intermedius) is restricted to southeast Alabama and adjacent areas of the Florida panhandle.[17][6]
Ecology and natural history

Diet: All musk turtles are carnivorous, consuming various aquatic invertebrates, fish, and carrion.

Behavior: Sternotherus is a highly aquatic genus. But some species, like the common musk turtle, are known to bask on fallen trees and coarse woody debris on shorelines.[2]
References

"Sternotherus ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
Ernst CH, Barbour RW, Lovich JE (1994). Turtles of the United States and Canada. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. (p. 137).
Zug, George. 1986. Sternotherus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 397:1-3.
Iverson, John B. 1979. Sternotherus carinatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 226:1-2.
Iverson, John B. 1977. Sternotherus depressus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 194: 1-2.
Scott, Peter A., Travis C. Glenn, and , Leslie J. Rissler. 2017. Resolving taxonomic turbulence and uncovering cryptic diversity in the musk turtles (Sternotherus) using robust demographic modeling. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 120: 1-15.
Iverson, John B. 1977. Sternotherus minor. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 195: 1-2.
Reynolds, Samuel L. and Michael E. Seidel. 1982. Sternotherus odoratus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 287: 1-4.
Bell, T. in Gray, John Edward. 1825. A synopsis of the genera of reptiles and Amphibia, with a description of some new species. Annals of Philosophy 10: 193-217.
Gray, John Edward. 1855 [1856]. Catalogue of Shield Reptiles in the Collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, 79 pp.
Tinkle, Donald W., and Robert G. Webb 1955. A new species of Sternotherus with a discussion of the Sternotherus carinatus complex (Chelonia, Kinosternidae). Tulane Studies in Zoology 3 (3): 53.
Agassiz, Louis 1857. Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. 1. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 452 pp.
Latreille, Pierre André. 1801 [1802]. In: C.N.S. Sonnini de Manoncourt and P.A. Latreille. Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, avec Figures Déssinnées d'après Nature. Détérville, Paris, Vol. 1. xx + 280 p.
Crother, Brian I. (ed.). 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. SSAR Herpetological Circular 43, 1–102 pp. [see page 90] ISBN 978-1-946681-00-3
Smith, Hobart M. & Bryan P. Glass. 1947. A new musk turtle for southeastern United States. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 37 (1): 22-24.
Bourque, Jason R., and Blaine W. Schubert. 2015. Fossil musk turtles (Kinosternidae, Sternotherus) from the late Miocene–early Pliocene (Hemphillian) of Tennessee and Florida. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35.1: e885441.

Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins 2016. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiii + 494 pp. [pages 227-229] ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9