“Chesapeake” vs. Northern, and more questions about diamondbacks

[accterpman]

Is there a difference between Northern Diamondback Terrapins and Chesapeake Diamondback Terrapins? If so what is it? Also what is a good tank set up and size for 3 baby northern diamondbacks? I want to buy a tank that will last a long time and will not get outgrown for a while.

[diamondback_terrapin]

There is really no difference genetically between a northern and chesapeake. “Chesapeake” is merely the name we have adopted for the brighter colored northerns that have white skin and bold reticulated lines. In the past, many in herpetoculture have confused these strikingly patterned northerns with ornates from Florida. The new moniker was adopted to help clear up the confusion. Many of these chesapeakes are found in the Chesapeake Bay area. A 60 gallon would be a good size to go with in my opinion. Quite the overkill for hatchlings but could even be a tad too small for 3 adults if they all turn out to be females! Chun Tail Moderator

[Todd Stockwell]

“Chesapeake” was the top grade of terrapin for the food market circa 1900. Terrapins from Chesapeake Bay brought the highest price in the market. Many other regional names came to be used to describe terrapins in the food markets. Since they were shipped to “pounds” from all along the east coast from the Gulf coast up to Massachusetts, many “Chesapeakes” were not really from Chesapeake Bay when they entered the final retail stage of the market. The best history of this is in the 1904 publication by Hay, “Revision of Malaclemys . . .” Hay was concerned about the future sustainability of the commercial harvest and so documented the situation as of 1904. I have posted some of Hay’s descriptions in the past and Vickie put them in a folder in the group’s archives. He describes the subtle differences in color patterns and morphology as of 1904. Since many terrapins interbred in the pounds (such as in Maryland), there was a mixing of the characteristics beyond the “natural” intergrades that occur along the east coast. And then a huge captive breeding program was operated by the US Fish Commission including the large breeding project at Beufort, North Carolina, which operated from the teens till around World War II. The breeding stock ended up being predominantly carolina stock and the offspring were then shipped all along the coast including Chesapeake Bay to boost the population and avoid extirpation from the commercial harvest (and interbreeding with the native dbts). One interesting point in Hay is that by far the whitest skinned “Chesapeakes” came from a small area in Connecticut in 1904. He noted that they could be easily identified in the market place. Hay’s subspecies names also varied a little from today’s and he did not classify “northerns” as M. t. t. Instead, they were M. centrata concentricas. The concentrica description came to be closely associated with Chesapeake Bay stock, even though all terrapin populations have a broad range of color patterns in the individuals. Many Chesapeake Bay terrapins either have dark colored shells with no concentric rings or the shell is so dark the pattern is hard to see. The lighter colored shells with sharp contrasting dark concentric rings have become very desirable in the captive bred market today, especially with white skin and black “teardrops,” large black “polk-a-dots,” or black ‘”racing stripes” on the head and legs. There are also carolinas with the lighter shell and skin and the bold concentrics. The sharpest carolinas seem to have a more intricate, finer “spider web” pattern on the top of the head than comparable northerns. There are still some “ornates” being offered by individuals on-line that are really the brightly colored northerns and carolinas although the major dealers seem to be leaving “ornate” reserved for macrospilotas. There is quite a bit of discussion on some of the historical descriptions in the group archives. Todd in Texas diamondback_terrapin wrote:

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