The presence of the Red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans

Herpetology Notes, volume 7: 437-441 (2014) (published online on 5 July 2014)
The presence of the Red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans
(Wied, 1838) (Testudines, Emydidae), an invasive species,
in the Paraibuna river basin, Southeastern Brazil
Renato Augusto Martins1, André Moreira Assalim1 and Flavio de Barros Molina2,3,*
Trachemys scripta elegans (Wied, 1838) is a
freshwater turtle that occurs in the Mississippi Valley,
USA (Ernst & Lovich, 2009). Due to the vivid colored
shell of hatchlings, the species was introduced in the
animal pet trade in the 1950s and rapidly became the
most commonly sold turtle all over the world (Franke
& Telecky, 2001; Ernst & Lovich, 2009). Statistics are
impressive with about 52 million specimens exported
from USA during the 1989-1997 years and more than 23
million during the 1998-2002 years (Franke & Telecky,
2001; Schlaepfer, Hoover and Dodd Jr., 2005).
It is a medium sized species; adult males and females
can attain, respectively, 20 and 28 cm of carapace length
(Ernst & Lovich, 2009). This is one of the reasons
that sooner or later almost all turtle “owners” release
their animals somewhere from city parks to natural
environments (Ferronato et al., 2009; F. B. Molina
personal observation). Invasive species are a matter
of concern because they can impact native species
through competitive exclusion, niche displacement,
hybridization, introgression, predation and even
extinction (Mooney & Cleland, 2001). Trachemys s.
elegans is a generalist species with broad ecological
niche (Ernst & Lovich, 2009) that has been introduced
Instituto Biovida para Conservação da Biodiversidade. Rua
Gentil Moreira, 147, Centro, CEP 16370-000, Promissão,
SP, Brasil
2
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Nazaré
481, Ipiranga, CEP 04263-000, São Paulo, SP, Brasil
3
Universidade de Santo Amaro, Campus I, Rua Prof. Enéas de
Siqueira Neto 340, Jardim das Imbuias, CEP 04829-300, São
Paulo, SP, Brasil
* Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected]
1
in many countries in Europe (Cadi & Joly, 2004;
Pupins, 2007), Africa (Baard & Villiers, 2000), Asia
(Haramura, Yamane and Mori, 2008; Xu et al., 2012),
Oceania (Burgin, 2006; Feldman, 2007), North America
(Townsend et al., 2002; Thomson, Spinks and Shaffer,
2010), Central America (Powell, 2005), and South
America (Iriarte, Lobos and Jaksic, 2005; Alcalde et
al., 2012). It can compete with local species (Cadi &
Joly, 2004; Polo-Cavia, López and Martín, 2008, 2011)
and can transmit bacteria (Hidalgo-Vila et al., 2008)
and worms (Verneau et al., 2011) to them. It is included
among top 100 world’s worst invasive alien species
(Lowe et al., 2000).
In Brazil, the commercialization of T. s. elegans is
forbidden since 1998 (Magalhães & São-Pedro, 2012).
Nevertheless, the species was already detected as an
invasive organism in many municipalities of the states
of São Paulo (Molina, 2006; Barbo, 2008; Ferronato
et al., 2009; Cristino, 2013), Rio de Janeiro (Salles
& Silva-Soares, 2010), Espírito Santo (Silva-Soares
et al., 2011), Minas Gerais (H. C. Costa, personal
communication), Paraná (Instituto Horus, 2005), Santa
Catarina (Tortato, Bressan and Kunz, 2014), Rio Grande
do Sul (Quintela, Loebmann and Gianuca, 2006; Bujes,
2011), Mato Grosso do Sul (Instituto Horus, 2005),
Goiás (Instituto Horus, 2005), Distrito Federal (Horta,
2004; Vieira & Costa, 2006), Tocantins (Instituto
Horus, 2005) and Amazonas (Instituto Horus, 2005).
Almost nothing is known about its population status in
Brazilian ecosystems.
In the morning of July 08 2013, one of us (RAM)
observed a melanistic male T. s. elegans in a pond
watered by a creek that runs from Paraibuna reservoir,
in a private property close to the 53rd km of Tamoios
highway, in the municipality of Paraibuna, state of São
Paulo, Brazil (−23.511619°; −45.547192°; figure 1).
438
Figure 1. Map showing the location (red dot) of the pond
where a male of Trachemys scripta elegans was seen in the
municipality of Paraibuna, state of São Paulo, southeastern
Brazil.
Renato Augusto Martins et al.
During the rainy season, from November to February,
the creek overflows and connects with the pond forming
a possible water course for turtle dispersal (figure 2).
Paraibuna reservoir has a maximum surface area of 224
km², a maximum depth of 98m, and is formed by the
waters of Paraibuna and Paraitinga rivers (Dias et al.,
2005). It is part of the Paraiba do Sul river basin that
runs toward the Atlantic Ocean and is situated between
the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the most
populated areas in Brazil. Although Paraiba do Sul river
valley is highly impacted by anthropogenic activities,
presenting margins dominated by grasses, Paraibuna
and Paraitinga rivers, that drain Bocaina Plateau, are
better preserved with margins covered mainly by shrubs
and trees (Pinto et al., 2009).
The specimen showed intense ontogenetic melanism
(Lovich, McCoy and Garstka, 1990) and had elongated
front claws. It was measured with a caliper (210 mm of
Figure 2. Pond where one adult male of Trachemys scripta elegans was observed in the municipality of Paraibuna, state of São
Paulo, southeastern Brazil. The yellow arrow shows the pond and the red arrow shows one arm of Paraibuna reservoir. The white
line refers to the water course between the reservoir and the pond (satellite image downloaded with Google Earth, captured on
January 6, 2014).
The presence of the invasive Trachemys scripta elegans in Southeastern Brazil
439
Figure 3. Melanistic adult male of Trachemys scripta elegans observed in a pond in the municipality of Paraibuna, state of São
Paulo, southeastern Brazil (photo by Renato A. Martins).
carapace length, 160 mm of carapace width, and 170
mm of plastron length), weighed with a dynamometer
(910 g), photographed (figure 3) and released.
To check the possible existence of a turtle population
in the area, the four local residents (a 65 and a 40 year old
men, a 35 year old woman, and an 11 year old girl) were
interviewed. According to them, adult and young redeared slider turtles (ca. 5 to 20 cm of carapace length)
are commonly seen in local ponds and creeks watered
by the reservoir. We can be sure that they correctly
identified the species because native fauna is composed
only of side-necked turtle species. The eldest resident
interviewed dated their presence to twenty years ago.
According to him, the animals are seen mainly during
December and January, a period that correspond to
the end of spring and beginning of summer in south
hemisphere. At São Paulo Zoo, located about 110 km
to the west, T. s. elegans was seen successfully nesting
in outside exhibits from September to February (F. B.
Molina, personal observation).
The possible presence of a Trachemys scrita elegans
population in the Paraibuna reservoir could represent a
threat to local species, such as Phrynops geoffroanus
(Schweigger, 1812) and Hydromedusa tectifera Cope,
1869. As aquatic macroinvertebrates and fishes are
important items in their diet (Souza & Abe, 2000; Bonino
et al., 2009; Ernst & Lovich, 2009; Alcalde, Derocco
and Rosset, 2010; Deconte, 2012), the occurrence
of feeding niche displacement and even competitive
exclusion cannot be ruled out.
It is also important to consider that this place is situated
not far from upper Paraiba do Sul river (ca. 20km south),
where the endangered chelid turtle Mesoclemmys hogei
(Mertens, 1967) is found in the middle and lower course
(Drummond & Molina, 2008), and from the Parque
Estadual da Serra do Mar (ca. 10 km north), the largest
continuous extension of Atlantic Rain Forest (a hotspot)
preserved in Brazil (Instituto Florestal, 2008), and an
important habitat of Hydromedusa maximiliani (Mikan,
1820) and H. tectifera (Marques & Sazima, 2004;
Famelli et al., 2011).
There is therefore an urgent need for conservation
measures. We agree with the suggestions made by
Ferronato et al. (2009), especially the need to develop
research on the impact of Trachemys scripta elegans on
Neotropical freshwater turtles and to establish a control
program designed to remove alien turtle specimens
from natural environments.
440
Acknowledgements. We would like to thank the companies
Ecologic – Centro de Avaliações e Perícias Ambientais and
DERSA – Desenvolvimento Rodoviário S.A., for supporting
the work and contributing financially. We also thank Bruno
de Oliveira Ferronato and three anonymous reviewers for
commenting the manuscript.
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Accepted by Diogo Provete; associate editor: Spartak Litvinchuk