Pelomedusa subrufa ( Bonnaterre, 1789 )

Petzold, Alice, Vargas-Ramírez, Mario, Kehlmaier, Christian, Vamberger, Melita, Branch, William R., Preez, Louis Du, Hofmeyr, Margaretha D., Meyer, Leon, Schleicher, Alfred, Široký, Pavel & Fritz, Uwe, 2014, A revision of African helmeted terrapins (Testudines: Pelomedusidae: Pelomedusa), with descriptions of six new species, Zootaxa 3795 (5), pp. 523-548 : 542-543

Pelomedusa subrufa ( Bonnaterre, 1789) sensu stricto

1789 Testudo subrufa Bonnaterre —Restricted type locality (Bour 1982): Taolañaro, Madagascar; holotype: Muséum

National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, MNHN 7970 ( Fig. 2 in Fritz et al. 2014) 1798 Testudo badia Donndorff (nomen novum) 1798 Testudo rubicunda Suckow (nomen novum) 1935 Pelomedusa galeata damarensis Hewitt —Type locality: Quickborn near Okahandja, Namibia; lectotype ( Fritz et

al. 2014): Port Elizabeth Museum, PEM R14953 (Fig. 7 top in Fritz et al. 2014) 1937 Pelomedusa subrufa wettsteini Mertens —Type locality: Majunga (Mahajanga), western Madagascar; holotype:

Senckenberg-Museum, Frankfurt am Main, SMF 7958 (Fig. 8 in Fritz et al. 2014)

Diagnosis: Small to medium-sized helmeted terrapins with a known maximum straight carapacial length of 19.7 cm. Yet, the shell length of most adults is below 14 cm. Pectoral scutes in most specimens with broad contact at plastral midseam; however, terrapins with narrow contact or, exceptionally, with triangular pectorals without midseam contact occur. One large undivided temporal scale on each side of head. Two small barbels under chin. Carapace uniform light to dark brown. Plastron in larger individuals mostly light coloured, in younger specimens often with dark markings. Pelomedusa subrufa sensu stricto differs from all other Pelomedusa species by the presence of cytosine (C) instead of thymine (T) at position 117, by the presence of thymine (T) instead of adenine (A) at position 169, by the presence of thymine (T) instead of adenine (A) or cytosine (C) at position 191, by the presence of guanine (G) instead of adenine (A) at positions 226 and 296, by the presence of adenine (A) instead of cytosine (C) at position 280, and by the presence of cytosine (C) or thymine (T) instead of adenine (A) or guanine (G) at position 289 of the 360-bp-long reference alignment of the 12S rRNA gene (Supporting Information). In addition, P. subrufa sensu stricto differs from all other Pelomedusa species except P. galeata by the presence of cytosine (C) instead of adenine (A) or guanine (G) at position 148, by the presence of guanine (G) instead of adenine (A) at position 159, by the presence of cytosine (C) instead of thymine (T) at position 167, and by the presence of guanine (G) instead of adenine (A) or thymine (T) at position 343. Moreover, P. subrufa sensu stricto differs from all other Pelomedusa species except P. galeata and possibly P. gehafie , P. kobe and candidate species B (in which the respective character states are unknown) by the presence of thymine (T) instead of cytosine (C) at position 26 and by the presence of cytosine (C) instead of thymine (T) at position 38.

Distribution: Southern Angola (this study), Botswana, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi ( Vargas-Ramírez et al. 2010), Namibia ( Wong et al. 2010; this study), South Africa (Limpopo; this study), and Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania (this study). Introduced to Madagascar ( Vargas-Ramírez et al. 2010; Wong et al. 2010).

Remarks: Pelomedusa subrufa sensu stricto corresponds to mtDNA lineage VIII of Vargas-Ramírez et al. (2010). Besides P. galeata , it is one of the two southern species of Pelomedusa .

In the course of the present study, we recorded P. subrufa sensu stricto for the first time for South Africa, based on one sample from the western border region of the Kruger Park (Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa). To the west and south, the next genetically verified records are approximately 300 km distant and are P. galeata . It seems possible that the ranges of the two species abut or overlap in northeastern South Africa.

In the Zoologische Staatssammlung München there are genetically verified specimens of P. subrufa sensu stricto collected on 3 May 1937 by Wolfgang Uthmöller (25 October 1904 – 25 August 1951) at the northern slope of the Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (ZSM 320/1937:1–4), and additional genetically verified specimens with the date 5 May 1937 originating from the same collector, but bearing only “Tanganyika” as locality data (ZSM 285/ 1937:1–3). The latter specimens represent another species ( P. kobe , see above), suggesting that both taxa occur in close geographical proximity or even sympatry in Tanzania. This is also supported by further genetically verified specimens of P. kobe from the Arusha region, Tanzania, from where also the new species P. neumanni is recorded (see above).

The identity of mtDNA sequences of P. subrufa sensu stricto from Tanzania and Madagascar points to Tanzania as geographical source region for the introduced Malagasy helmeted terrapins.

Among 94 museum specimens of P. subrufa , two terrapins have triangular pectorals without midseam contact, and 19 terrapins have pectoral scutes with narrow plastral midseam contact, whilst the remaining specimens have pectoral scutes with broad contact at the midseam.

Pelomedusa subrufa can cope with extremely arid conditions. For Namibia, there are records from the mouths of temporary streams (so-called riviers) in the Namib Desert ( Branch 2008; Boycott & Bourquin 2008; vouchers in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin). It is well known that Namibian terrapins burrow underground during arid periods, and if there is no rain, they may evidently survive up to six years burrowed (A. Schleicher, pers. observ., Omaheke, Namibia).

The monogenean flatworm Polystomoides chabaudi Euzet & Combes, 1965 was described from Pelomedusa subrufa sensu stricto (collected at Betioky, Madagascar). The same polystomatid species was also reported from helmeted terrapins from the Kampala area, Uganda ( Tinsley 1973), that is, probably from P. neumanni .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Genetically verified records of Pelomedusa species. Question marks denote doubtful or uncertain localities.