The rough-footed mud turtle (Kinosternon hirtipes) is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northern Mexico.
Geographic range Kinosternon hirtipes is found in the United States in Texas, and it is also found in Mexico in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Mexico DF, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Mexico State, Michoacán, Morelos, and Zacatecas.
Diet As an omnivore, the diet of Kinosternon hirtipes primarily consists of vegetation and insects including filamentous algae, seeds and fruits, aquatic, terrestrial, flying arthropods, as well as aquatic gastropods. K. hirtipes undergoes a dietary shift from insects to vegetation as body size increases which facilitates rapid growth. Although male K. hirtipes are larger in size than females, both sexes share a dietary overlap consuming similar foods.
Predation Based on tracks around kill sites, bite marks and shell damage it has been determined that the main predators of Kinosternon hirtipes are raccoons (Procyon lotor) and feral pigs (Sus scrofa). Not surprisingly, both raccoons and pigs are known to hunt several other species of turtle. K. hirtipes seems to be relatively "immune" to predation but are at the highest risk when coming out of the water to nest.
Subspecies Six subspecies of Kinosternon hirtipes are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies. Valley of Mexico mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes hirtipes Lake Chapala mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes chapalaense San Juanico mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes magdalense Viesca mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes megacephalum (Extinct) Mexican Plateau mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes murrayi Patzcuarco mud turtle – Kinosternon hirtipes tarascense
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Etymology The subspecific name, murrayi, is in honor of American zoologist Leo Tildon Murray (1902–1958).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Kinosternon hirtipes murrayi, p. 185).
References
Furhter reading
(Kinosternon murrayi, new species). (Kinosternon hirtipes chapalaense, new subspecies, pp. 51–52; K. h. megacephalum, new subspecies, p. 52; K. h. tarascense, new subspecies, pp. 52–53; K. h. magdalense, new subspecies, p. 53, Figure 28). Wagler J (1830). Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugthiere und Vögel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. Munich: J.G. Cotta. vi + 354 pp. (Cinosternon [sic] hirtipes, new species, p. 137). (in German and Latin). .