Re: Relationships

Hi gang. Indeed, Maps and Terps are closely related, so much so that the old books had them in the same genus. Some researchers think that terps may have sprung from the maps, in a selective thing. It seems that the terps can’t compete with the intense colonization of fresh water, but their tolerance to salinity gave them a selective advantage – nobody else has tried to colonize the salt marshes in all these millions of years, even though a few others have tolerance (muds, snappers, some cooters, chicken turts), but even though they have this tolerance, they seem to be found in fresh water habitats (permanent ponds, sloughs, etc.), and rarely in the salt or brackish. Oh yes, and brackish runs from very slight salt to almost full salt. Merry merry!