Apalone spinifera aspera (Agassiz 1857)

Aspidonectes asper Agassiz, 1857

[= Apalone spinifera aspera (Agassiz, 1857); fide, Stejneger and Barbour, 1939:172, Meylan, 1987:92]

Agassiz, 1857, Contrib. Nat. Hist. U.S. America (Testudinata), p. 405.

Paralectotypes: USNM 22676 (formerly USNM Osteo 12349) (partial dry adult carapace, CL “14.9 cm” [Webb, 1960:3]), Lake Concordia, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, collected by Professor Benjamin L. C. Wailes, 1851, originally cataloged 16 Mar 1875, recataloged 18 Feb 1896; USNM 248989 (formerly USNM Osteo 1084) (dry cranium without mandible, CBL “16 mm” [Stejneger, 1944:63]), Washington, Adams County, Mississippi, collected by Professor Benjamin L. C. Wailes, date unknown, originally cataloged 21 Mar 1853, recataloged 20 Mar 1985; USNM 248990 (formerly USNM Osteo 1086) (dry carapace with disarticulated plastron and skull, sex unknown, CL “19.8 cm” [Webb, 1960:3]), locality, collector, and catalog and recatalog data as for USNM 248989 (see “Remarks”).

Type Locality: None stated. Schmidt (1953:109) listed it as “Lake Concordia, Louisiana,” but Webb (1960:7) restricted it to “the Pearl River at Columbus, Marion County, Mississippi.”

Other Type Material: Lectotype: MCZ 1597; designated by Webb (1960:6) (see “Remarks”). Paralectotypes: MCZ 1622, 37173, 46615, 46621, 46633.

Etymology: The Latin asper, rough or harsh, refers to the tubercles on the posterior of the carapace of some females.

Remarks: Agassiz did not give the museum numbers for the specimens that formed the syntopic series of Aspidonectes asper, so the exact number of specimens in the series is unknown. Agassiz (1857:405) stated: “I have for a long time known only an imperfect skeleton of this species, belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, and prepared from a specimen forwarded by Professor B. L. C. Wailes, of Washington, Mississippi. Afterwards I obtained through the agency of Dr. L. Harper, a stuffed specimen belonging to the Museum of the University of Oxford, that had been collected during the geological survey of Mississippi, under the superintendence of Professor Wailes. Lately, I have received a number of living specimens through the kindness of Mr. Winthrop Sargent of Natchez.” The University of Oxford later became the University of Mississippi, but its museum has long been disbanded. Also, the location “Washington, Mississippi,” given as the collection site of some National Museum specimens, probably refers only to Wailes’s home, from which he sent the specimens to the museum. Smithsonian specimens USNM 248989 and USNM 248990 are probably syntypes, as they were collected by Wailes and sent to the Smithsonian before Agassiz described the taxon. Agassiz stated that he saw only one “imperfect skeleton” sent by the Smithsonian Institution, a description that fits each of USNM specimens 22676, 248989, and 249090. Stejneger (1944:57) noted that Wailes had sent “2 shells & crania … that were entered in the register of the osteological collection of the Smithsonian Institution under the generic name Trionyx only by Professor Baird on March 21, 1853 as numbers 1084 and 1086, received from B. L. C. Wailes, Washington, Miss.” Stejneger (1944:64) considered USNM Osteo 1084, USNM Osteo 1086, and USNM Osteo 12349, which minimally represented two individuals, part of the syntopic series. Webb (1960:3–4) listed all three of the USNM specimens as syntypes. However, Cochran (1961:227) included only USNM 22676 (USNM Osteo 12349) and USNM 248990 (USNM Osteo 1086) as syntypes.