Eastern box turtle

Abstract: Natural history of the ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz , Natural history of the ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

Abstract: Seven captive eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina ) from a large collection of North American chelonians in North Carolina became acutely ill in the fall of 2002. Five of the turtles died. Clinical signs included cutaneous abscessation, oral ulceration or abscessation (or both), respiratory distress, anorexia, and lethargy. The predominant postmortem lesion was fibrinoid vasculitis of various organs, including skin, mucous membranes, lungs, and liver. No inclusion bodies were detected by histopathology or electron microscopy of formalin-fixed tissue. An iridovirus was isolated from tissues obtained postmortem from two of the box turtles that died. The virus was char- acterized by electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction, and sequence analysis of a portion of the major capsid protein as a member of the genus Ranavirus.

Abstract: We studied a population of ornate box turtles (Terrapene ornata) during 1977-87 in south-central Wisconsin, and intensively monitored (220 relocations) 53 radio-marked individuals during 1986-87. Egg laying occurred mainly in June; eggs in four nests hatched after 79-84 d. Twenty-one of 37 adult females (57%) laid during 1986-87, mean clutch size was 3.5, and hatchlings per adult female averaged 0.7. Mean annual survival of marked adults (age 210 yr) was 0.81 during 1977-87 (Jolly-Seber analysis). We estimated a total of 54-56 adults on four occupied sites within our 8 km2 study area. Adult densities at these sites ranged from 2.9-5.0/ha. Most (84%) turtles entered hibernation during Sept.; all emerged during April. Known periods of hibernation averaged 216 d (n = 9); burrow depths were between 0.5-1.8 m (n = 26). Mean home range size of adults was 8.7 ha (n = 47) annually, but varied greatly among individuals and did