Abstract
The Painted Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima) is a medium-sized turtle comprised of four subspecies that are distributed from northern Mexico to Costa Rica along the Pacific coast. Along this distribution, R. pulcherrima occurs in a variety of habitats, with many other turtle species, yet the ecology of R. pulcherrima remains poorly studied. Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima is popular in the international pet trade for its stunning red coloration, and in captive populations it is known as a semiterrestrial and omnivorous turtle. In this study, we conduct field work in 3 states in Mexico, and we use measurements on museum specimens to document ecology of R. pulcherrima. Field techniques utilized include visual encounter surveys, mark-recapture, radiotelemetry, and morphological measurements. This field work was complimented with limb, shell, and head measurements off all R. pulcherrima subspecies to explore potential ecological differences. Results from the field on the 3 subpopulations in Mexico demonstrated that R. p. pulcherrima and R. p. rogerbarbouri 1) exist in low densities and 2) occur near or in rocky-forest streams, and 3) adult size and sexual size dimorphisms can vary substantially among sites. Data on museum specimens suggest that southern subspecies (R. p. incisa and R. p. manni) could be more terrestrial, characterized by less interdigital webbing, taller shells, and larger heads than their northern counterparts R. p. pulcherrima and R. p. rogerbarbouri. This study provides the first ecological insight into the charismatic R. pulcherrima in the field and highlights important sources of variation among subpopulations and subspecies that merit future investigation. Last, our findings that R. pulcherrima exist in low densities is worrisome given that there is a high demand for all 4 species in the illegal pet trade.
