Good vibrations: a novel method for sexing turtles
McKnight, Donald T., Howell, Hunter J., Hollender, Ethan C., and Ligon, Day B. (2017) Good vibrations: a novel method for sexing turtles. Acta Herpetologica, 12 (1). pp. 117-121.
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Abstract
The ability to accurately determine the sex of individuals is important for research and conservation efforts. While most species of turtle exhibit secondary sexual dimorphisms that can be used to reliably infer sex, there are some species that are very difficult to sex, and even within many dimorphic species, it is not uncommon to encounter individuals that appear to exhibit both male and female secondary sex characteristics. Therefore, we tested the novel method of using a vibrator to sex turtles by stimulating male turtles to evert their penises. We tested this method on males of four species (three families) with known sexual dimorphisms: spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera; n = 14), western chicken turtles (Deirochelys reticularia miaria; n = 17), Mississippi mud turtles (Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis; n = 10), and common musk turtles (Sternotherus odoratus; n = 9). The method accurately sexed 100% of A. spinifera, 64.7% of D. r. miaria, 80.0% of K. s. hippocrepis, and 55.6% of S.odoratus. Despite the low success rates in some species, there are situations in which this method will be useful for researchers working with species that are difficult to sex using external morphological characteristics.
| Item ID: | 52886 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1827-9643 |
| Keywords: | Apalone; chelonia; Dierochelys; Kinosternon; penis; Sternotherus; vibrator |
| Additional Information: | This journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence 4.0 (CC-BY). This license allows anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute and/or copy the final version of the papers. The works must be properly attributed to its author(s). It is not necessary to ask further permissions both to author(s) or journal board, although you are kindly requested to inform the Journal Board for every reuse of the papers. |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Mar 2018 03:24 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310901 Animal behaviour @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960899 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of Environments not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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