Ornate Diamondback Terrapin

[Chun-Ming Chew]

Chun-Ming Chew

February 25, 2001 at 8:22 pm #14347

Dear Dr. Pritchard, I am a chelonian enthusiast and one of the moderators of Yahoo’s Diamondback Terrapin eGroup. Most of us are very well aware of your scientific and academic contributions in the study of chelonia and especially well-versed with your publication “the Encyclopedia of Turtles.” We were hoping that you could find the time to answer a nagging question for us regarding the two plates on p.265 of your book. One plate shows a beautiful specimen of M.t. macrospilota from Tampa Bay. It is not labeled with a common name. The other plate shows the heads of 4 female M.t. tequesta, highliting the variation of patterns within a single population. However, this plate has a caption stating: “Heads of four ornate diamondback terrapins, Malaclemys terrapin tequesta, all from Merritt Island , Florida. Photo by Dr. Llewelyn Ehrhart.” Obviously, our question is was this a mistake made by the publishers that was never corrected in later editions? It seemed contrary to your text descriptions to label M.t. tequesta as ornates since your text descriptions specifically assign the term ornate to only M.t. macrospilota as a common name, and Florida East Coast Terrapin to M.t. tequesta. It also didn’t make sense that you would apply the adjective “ornate” to M.t. tequesta knowing the confusion that would arise from M.t. macrospilota having a common name of Ornate Diamondback Terrapin as well. A trifle matter really, for someone with your schedule and priorities. But if you do find the time, a brief response would be greatly appreciated for inquiring minds! Best regards, Chun-Ming Chew Moderator, Diamondback Terrapins eGroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diamondbackterrapins http://www.geocities.com/dterrapin _______________________________________________________________ Add voice to your e-mails. Free at http://www.iHello.com

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