New record of Spot-Legged Turtle, Rhinoclemmys punctularia (Daudin, 1801) (Reptilia, Testudines, Geoemydidae), from an Amazon ecotonal zone in the Tocantins–Araguaia river basin, Brazil

Abstract

We report a new record of Rhinoclemmys punctularia (Daudin, 1801), extending the geographic dis-tribution of this species by 450 km towards the south to the Araguaia River in the state of Pará, Brazil. The new record comes from an ecotonal area of the Cerrado and Amazon biomes, which indicates a possible adaptability of this species in fragmented environments and in agricultural areas. These new findings help enable future investi-gations better understand the distribution of R. punctularia in the southern Amazon Basin and in ecotones.

Keywords

• Chelonians
• distribution
• freshwater
• range extens