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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: Inagua Slider
Synonyms and Other Names: Trachemys stejnergeri malonei
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Gray, brown, olive or black aquatic turtle. The head is gray to olive with cream to yellow stripes and a reddish-brown supratemporal strip. Carapace has yellow streaks in juveniles, but darkens and loses streaks with age; it is serrated posteriorly and exhibits a medial-dorsal keel. The yellow plastron sometimes exhibits scutes with black edges and the marginal scutes may posses olive ocelli (Ernst and Barbour, 1989).
Size: 24 cm carapace
Native Range:
Great Inagua Island, Bahamas (USFWS, 2003).
Nonindigenous Occurrences: In 1946, 48 juvenile specimens of Trachemys stejnegeri malonei from Great Inagua, Bahamas were released into a canal in Hialeah, Florida (Hodson and Pearson, 1943; King and Krakauer, 1966).
Means of Introduction: "Reptile fanciers" released the specimens into the canal (King and Krakauer, 1966).
Status: King and Krakauer (1966) report that the species has not been detected since its release.
Impact of Introduction: None reported. As with any nonindigenous introduction, establishment of this species might generate a range of impacts from parasite transmittance to food web effects. T. stejnegeri is omnivorous in capitivity; it feeds upon items such as snails, shrimp, and green leaves (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991).
Remarks: The Ingua slider is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is thus protected throughout its native range (USFWS, 2003). Its habitat includes freshwater bodies with soft bottoms and aquatic vegetation especially ponds, swamps, streams and rivers. Nesting occurs April to July yielding 3 to 14 white eggs per clutch (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). It is also known to bask on masses of aquatic vegetation or in dead bushes (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991).
The Central Antillean slider (Trachemys stejnegeri) (Schmidt, 1928) includes three subspecies; the Puerto Rican slider (T. s. stejnegeri) (Schmidt, 1928), the Inagua slider (T. s. malonei) (Barbour & Carr, 1938), and the Dominican slider (T. s. vicina) (Barbour & Carr, 1940) (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991; USDA 2003; Seidel, 2002). The species is native to the Inagua Island, Bahamas (T. s. malonei); Dominican Republic (T. s. vicina); Puerto Rico (T. s. stejnegeri); and possibly Culebra Island (T. s. stejnegeri). The species is reportedly introduced to Maria-Galante (T. s. stejnegeri) (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991).
References
Ernst, C. H., and R. W. Barbour. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. and London. 313 pp.
Hodson, L. A. and J. F. W. Pearson. 1943. Notes on the discovery and biology of two Bahaman fresh-water turtles of the genus Pseudemys. Proceedings of the Florida Academy of Sciences 6(2):17-23.
King, W. and T. Krakauer. 1966. The Exotic Herpetofauna of Southeast Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 29(2):143-154.
Schwartz, A. and R. W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida. 720 pp.
Seidel, M. E. 2002. Taxonomic Observations of Extant Species and Subspecies of Slider Turtles, Genus Trachemys. Journal of Herpetology 36(2):285-292.
USDA. 2003. Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Trachemys stejnegeri (Schmidt, 1928) [online]. Available at URL: http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=551769. Integrated Taxonomic Information System, Washington D.C.
U.S.F.W.S. 2003. Environmental Conservation Online System: Turtle, Inagua Island [online]. Available at URL: http://ecos.fws.gov/servlet/SpeciesProfile?spcode=C04I#status. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ECOS Program, Arlington, Virginia.
Other Resources:
Father Sáchez' Web Site of West Indian Natural History
US Fish and Wildlife: Endangered Inagua Slider
Records of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas (1993)
Author: Liz McKercher
Revision Date: 4/18/2003 Citation for this information:
Liz McKercher. 2009. Trachemys stejnegeri malonei. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1264> Revision Date: 4/18/2003
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