Herpetology Notes, volume 12: 709-712 (2019) (published online on 04 July 2019)
of Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Bour, 1973)
First record� ���
(Testudines, Chelidae) for the North-Northeast Atlantic Basin
Elizângela Silva Brito1,*, Tainá Figueras Dorado-Rodrigues2, and Rafael Martins Valadão3
Brazil is home to 20 of the 58 extant Chelidae species
(Rhodin et al., 2017; Costa and Bérnils, 2018). Chelidae
is distributed across Oceania and South America (van
Dijk et al., 2014), and its most species-rich genus
is Mesoclemmys, with eight species: M. gibba, M.
heliostemma, M. hogei, M. nasuta, M. perplexa,
M. raniceps, M. tuberculata and M. vanderhaegei.
Mesoclemmys species occur widely across Brazil, but
their distributions may still be underestimated.
Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei is a medium-sized
freshwater turtle, measuring up to 285 mm of carapace
length (CL) (Marques et al., 2014). It inhabits freshwater
systems such as rivers, small oligotrophic streams and
densely vegetated open lagoons (Rueda-Almonacid et
al., 2007; Vinke et al., 2013; Marques et al., 2014), and is
currently considered Near Threatened by the IUCN Red
List (Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group,
1996). This species is distributed across Argentina,
Paraguay and Brazil (Marques et al., 2014), and has
been recorded in the Amazon, Tocantins, Paraguay,
Paraná and Uruguay basins (Souza, 2005; Marques et
al., 2014). In Brazil, the species occurs at the Federal
District, and in the states of Goiás (Brandão et al., 2002),
Mato Grosso (Brito et al., 2009; Brito et al., 2012),
Mato Grosso do Sul (Strüssmann et al., 2000; Ávila et
al., 2006), Minas Gerais (Silveira et al., 2009; Maffei
et al., 2016), São Paulo (Souza et al., 2000; Marques et
1
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas do Pantanal, campus avançado
do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, CEP 78060-900, Cuiabá,
Mato Grosso, Brazil.
2
Laboratório de Herpetologia, Instituto de Biociências,
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, CEP 78060-900,
Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
3
Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Répteis
e Anfíbios, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da
Biodiversidade, CEP 74605-090, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil.
*
Corresponding author: Email: eliz.chelidae@gmail.com
al., 2013; Maffei et al., 2016) and Tocantins (Villaça et
al., 1999). Tocantins, located 2000 km northeast from
Asunción, is this species’ type locality and northern
limit (Vinke et al., 2013).
Here, we extend the distribution of M. vanderhaegei
to a new river basin in Maranhão State, Northeastern
Brazil. In addition to these new records, we have
compiled every known distribution record of this
species. Our mapping was based on a thorough review of
the literature (comprising journal articles, dissertations,
theses and herpetological meetings publications)
herpetological collections, SpeciesLink, GBIF,
EMYSystem and Portal da Biodiversidade databases. In
order to minimize problems caused by georeferencing
errors, we excluded records that were clearly misplaced
or dubious. We used Ernst and Barbour (1989) and
Rueda-Almonacid et al. (2007) identification keys to
identify captured specimens. Every individual was
released after biometrical measurements, sexing and
species identification.
We captured two individuals of M. vanderhaegei in
Balsas river, Balsas Municipality, State of Maranhão
(8°39’S, 46°27’W; WGS84; Figure 1), in 2012. Both
individuals were caught in funnel traps baited with
fish, and were released after marking and measuring
procedures. One female (CL of 200 mm; Head width,
HW, of 4.6 mm; Figure 2A����������������������
207 mm; HW of 5.1 mm����������������������������
26 and July 17, respectively. Our records extend the
known distribution of M. vanderhaegei to a new North-
Northeast hydrographic basin, the Parnaíba sub-basin.
The area is located 241 km northeast of the species’
closest known locality in Serra do Lajeado, Tocantins
State (Brandão et al., 2002). The Balsas River is a major
affluent of the Parnaíba, and it is surrounded by Cerrado
vegetation in southern Maranhão (Figure 2B).
The captured individuals were sympatric with six
individuals of Phrynops geoffroanus complex in the
Balsas river. The latter is distributed across the Parnaíba
river basin (Silva et al., 2016), where another species
710 Elizângela Silva Brito et al.

Figure 1. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei distribution. Species Link, GBIF, EMYSystem, Portal da biodiversidade, scientific
literature (black circles) and new records (red star).

Figure 2. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei and Balsas river, Balsas municipality, Maranhão state, Brazil. (A) Captured female; (B)
River section where M. vanderhaegei individuals were captured.

of Mesoclemmys, M. gibba, has already been recorded occurs only peripherally (Rueda-Almonacid et al.,
(Barreto et al., 2007). Mesoclemmys gibba is similar in 2007; Ferrara et al., 2017). The main characteristics
size to M. vanderhaegei, but it is primarily distributed separating the two species are the darker colors of the
throughout the Amazon basin, where M. vanderhaegei mandible and plastron of M. gibba, contrasting with
 of Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei for the North-Northeast Atlantic Basin
First record����
the paler hues of M. vanderhaegei (Figure 2A), and the
wider head of M. vanderhaegei (larger than 20% HW
in relation to CL) when compared to M. gibba (max of
20% HW in relation to CL) (Ernst and Barbour, 1989;
Rueda-Almonacid et al., 2007; Ferrara et al., 2017).
The presence of M. vanderhaegei outside the Prata
river basin was previously reported (e.g., Villaça et
al., 1999; Silveira, 2009; Brito et al., 2012), and might
be related to biological characteristics of semi-aquatic
turtles, which can disperse across terrestrial landscapes.
Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei has been observed walking
on land, especially in areas where barriers such as
waterfalls can limit its aquatic movement (Brito et al.,
2012; Marques et al., 2014). This capacity allows the
species to occur in different basins.
Acknowledgements. We thank the Secretaria de Estado do Meio
Ambiente e Recursos Naturais of Maranhão State for granting
us the licence no 001/2012, environmental licensing process no
3080/2012. We also thank Bernardo Araujo for the translation of
this manuscript and Fabio Maffei for the revision of the text. ESB
was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) throught the Programa de
Capacitação Institucional (PCI) of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
(MPEG; process number 300658/2019-2).
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Accepted by Eric Munscher