All Barbour's map turtles are carnivorous. Females eat only mollusks as adults, primarily snails and some clams. The beak crushes these mollusks and all parts, including the shell, are swallowed. Males do not eat as many snails or clams as females, instead feeding more on insects and insect larvae. Hatchlings and juveniles eat insects and insect larvae before moving on to hard-shelled mollusks.
Animal Foods: insects; mollusks
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Molluscivore )
Barbour's map turtle nests are subject to predation by snakes and terrestrial mammals, such as raccoons. Humans sometimes consume Barbour's map turtles as food. Barbour's map turtles are capable of withdrawing into their shells as well as trying to bite if they are unable to escape danger.
Known Predators:
Barbour's map turtles have dark brown or black skin with light yellow to green markings. The head is broad, with patterns specific to the species. The top of the head has a large interorbital blotch connected by a branch to the postorbital blotches and to a point just under the eye. A y-shaped pattern is found behind the orbits. There is also a light bar on the chin that follows the curve of the jaw. The top part of the neck has relatively wide stripes that are mostly of equal size. The hind limbs and tail are striped as well.
The carapace, or dorsal part of the shell, is not smooth and rounded but highly domed. It has a prominent vertebral keel, with laterally compressed dark spines on each vertebral scute. The second and third spines are most pronounced and wear down as the turtle ages. A lower longitudinal keel is seen on the scutes beside the vertebral keel. These scutes also have C-shaped yellow markings. The overall color of the carapace is green to olive green. The plastron, or ventral part of the shell, is yellow and without markings other than a black border on the edge of each scute. A distinguishing feature of the plastron is the ridge on the abdominal and pectoral plates where they connect to the bridge.
Sexual dimorphism is present in Barbour's map turtles. Females are much larger than males. Females have a carapace that is 15 to 33 cm long at sexual maturity, whereas mature males have a 9 to 14 cm carapace. Therefore, females can be up to three times the size of males. Females also have much wider heads than males, along with a lower jaw that extends past the upper jaw.
Range length: 4 to 33 cm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger; sexes shaped differently
There is no information about the lifespan of Barbour's map turtles in the wild. The longest observed lifespan in captivity was 31 years 8 months and 9 days at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 31 (high) years.
Barbour’s map turtles live almost all of their lives in large freshwater systems with limestone bottoms. They leave the water only to lay eggs and bask in the sun on large fallen branches and other accessible areas. They prefer deeper and faster flowing waters than other turtles in the family Emydidae. Females are normally found in deeper water than males, hatchlings and juveniles tend to stay closer to the riverbank than adults.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; freshwater
Aquatic Biomes: rivers and streams
Other Habitat Features: riparian
Barbour’s map turtles (Graptemys barbouri) are found in the southeastern United States, specifically in the Apalachicola and the Chipola Rivers and their tributaries in Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida panhandle.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Barbour's map turtles are important predators of mollusks in the areas the inhabit and are preyed on by other predators as eggs, young, and sometimes as adults.
Barbour's map turtles used in a study that isolated the first pure Flavobacterium meningosepticum, which is a cause of meningitis in humans. These turtles are also consumed by humans and sometimes kept as pets.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; food ; source of medicine or drug
There are no known adverse effects of Barbour's map turtles on humans.
Fertilized eggs of Barbour's map turtles have a shell that surrounds a yolk sac and the developing turtle. The young develop inside of the egg until they are capable of breaking through the shell to emerge as hatchlings, which takes about 58 days. After emerging from the eggs, hatchlings dig their way out of the nest cavity and walk to the nearby stream or river. Hatchlings and juveniles are identical to adults, except that coloring is less developed and less bright, and they are much smaller in size. Hatchlings have a mean carapace length of 37 mm and mean mass of 10.7 g.
Their sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs incubate, not by chromosomes like in humans. Eggs at 25 degrees Celsius produce only males, whereas eggs at 30 degrees Celsius produce only females. Females sexually mature in 15 to 20 years, while males mature in 2 to 4 years, which may have be explained by size differences in adult males and females. The development of the carapace to adult size is dependent on fontanels, which are spots filled with cartilage that allow the carapace room to grow. Males and females of the same size show differences in their fontanels. Females have a large number of fontanels, which allow for growth of the shell, whereas males have few or no fontanels.
Development - Life Cycle: temperature sex determination
Barbour's map turtles are considered "vulnerable" by the IUCN and are on Appendix III of CITES. They are given a global rank of "G2," indicating that the species is imperiled. Barbour's map turtles have a relatively restricted range and are subject to threats to their freshwater ecosystems, including dredging, water impoundment, and pollution.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix iii
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: lower risk - near threatened
Males engage in a courtship routine in which they touch the face of females with their legs, but communication and perception are otherwise largely unknown for Barbour's map turtles.
Communication Channels: tactile
Other Communication Modes: vibrations
Perception Channels: visual
Male and female Barbour's map turtles reproduce sexually, but the specific mating system is not known. Males attract females by approaching them with their neck extended in an attempt to be face-to-face. The male then undertakes a courtship routine in which he touches the sides of the female’s head with the inner surfaces of his front legs for a few seconds.
Fertilization takes place inside the female after the male deposits sperm. The eggs are later deposited in a nest next to a stream or river. The nest cavity is excavated by the female using her hind limbs. Once the eggs are deposited, the opening to the nest is covered with dirt and the eggs are left to finish development. The nesting season for Barbour's map turtles lasts from June through early August. But nesting will occur during the winter when individuals are held in captivity. Clutch size is between 6 and 11 eggs, and a female can lay eggs up to four times in one mating season, allowing the possibility of a female laying between 11 and 51 eggs in one season. The average size of an egg is 3.71 cm long and 2.61 cm wide.
Breeding interval: Barbour's map turtles breed annually, and females are capable of producing multiple clutches in a single mating season.
Breeding season: Nesting season is June through early August.
Range number of offspring: 6 to 11.
Average gestation period: 58 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 15 to 20 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 to 4 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; oviparous
Barbour's map turtles are like many reptiles in that there is little parental investment. The male courts the female to mate with her. Once his sperm is deposited he no longer invests time or energy in the young. The female digs a nest in which to deposit eggs and covers it with dirt. Once the nesting is complete, the female leaves the eggs and does not invest further time or energy in the offspring.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
Barbour's map turtle (Graptemys barbouri) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States.
G. barbouri is found in rivers located in southeastern Alabama, the western panhandle of Florida, and southwestern Georgia.[4]
The specific name or epithet, barbouri, is in honor of American herpetologist Thomas Barbour.[5][6]
Owning Barbour's map turtle is illegal in Georgia, Michigan, and Alabama. The limit is two turtles per person in Florida. Like all map turtles, it is under the protection of the Salmonellosis Four-inch Regulation, disallowing G. barbouri to be sold if it is under the length of 4 in (10 cm).
Adult male Barbour's map turtles are on average 3.5 to 5.5 in (9–14 cm) in straight-line carapace length. Adult females are much larger and can vary from 6 to 12.5 in (15 – 32 cm) in straight-line carapace length. "Females attain really imposing dimensions, and their heads are enormously enlarged".[4] G. barbouri possesses black-tipped spines on the second, third, and fourth vertebral scutes. These spines are very noticeable in males, and resemble a dorsal fin.
Barbour's map turtle mainly consumes mollusks, insects, and small fish found in rivers.
Barbour's map turtle (Graptemys barbouri) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States.
