Slow and steady wins the race, the saying goes -- and it seems to have worked for a small type of turtle native to western Mexico that has been declared a new species.

For 20 years, residents of the area around Puerto Vallarta, a Pacific coast resort town, had been telling scientists about the little turtles native to their area.

But it was only in May that zoologists were able to identify them as the world's newest species, Kinosternon vogti -- named for American herpetologist Richard Vogt, who has studied US, Mexican and Central American turtles for more than four decades.

The good news came with a dose of bad, however: the turtles, recognizable by a yellow spot on the tip of the nose, are also endangered.

"They are found only here, in the streams and rivers around Puerto Vallarta," said Fabio German Cupul, a researcher at the University of Guadalajara.

Measuring just 10 centimeters (four inches) long, the tiny turtles easily fit in the palm of a hand.

"They are wider than they are tall, unlike every other (turtle) species," Cupul told AFP.

Just four of the turtles have been documented so far, he said: three males and a female.

Five more were found dead and taken to the country's largest university, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, for research.

Of the surviving turtles, one male and one female have been taken to a reproduction center in hopes they will procreate.

The other two males have been taken to a wildlife park in Puerto Vallarta.

The find was published in Chelonian Conservation and Biology, an academic journal specialized in turtles and tortoises.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

'Monstrous' new Russian saber-tooth fossils clarify early evolution of mammal lineage
Raleigh NC (SPX) Jun 12, 2018
Fossils representing two new species of saber-toothed prehistoric predators have been described by researchers from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, USA) and the Vyatka Paleontological Museum (Kirov, Russia). These new species improve the scientists' understanding of an important interval in the early evolution of mammals - a time, between mass extinctions, when the roles of certain carnivores changed drastically. Living mammals are descended from a group of animals called t ... read more