White-lipped mud turtle

The white-lipped mud turtle (Kinosternon leucostomum) is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to Central America and northwestern South America.

White-lipped mud turtle
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Kinosternidae
Genus:	Kinosternon
Species:	K. leucostomum
Binomial name
Kinosternon leucostomum (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1851)
Synonyms
Kinosternon leucostomum leucostomum Cinosternon leucostomum A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1851 Kinosternum leucostomum — LeConte, 1854 Kinosternon leucostomum — Gray, 1856 Cinosternum leucostomum — Agassiz, 1857 Thyrosternum leucostomum — Agassiz, 1857 Swanka maculata Gray, 1869 Swanka leucostoma — Gray, 1870 Cinosternum brevigulare Günter, 1885 Cinosternum cobanum Günter, 1885 Cinosternon cobanum — Atkinson, 1907 Kinsternon leucostomum — Stuart, 1934 Kinosternon mopanum Neill, 1965 Kinosternon leucostoma — Tryon, 1975 Kinosternon leucostomum leucostomum — Berry, 1979 Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale Cinosternum brevigulare Cope, 1885 Cinosternum postinguinale Cope, 1887 (nomen novum) Cinosternon brevigulare — Atkinson, 1907 Cinosternum spurrelli Boulenger, 1913 Kinosternon postinguinale — Schmidt, 1946 Kinosternon spurelli [sic] Schmidt, 1946 (ex errore) Kinosternon spurrelli — Mertens & Wermuth, 1955 Kinosternon postinguinal [sic] Legler, 1965 (ex errore) Kinosternon leucostomum spurrelli — Pritchard, 1979 Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale — Berry, 1979 Kinosternon leucostomum spurelli — Rudloff, 1990 Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinde [sic] Nöllert, 1992 (ex errore)

Geographic range

Kinosternon leucostomum is found in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Subspecies

• Northern white-lipped mud turtle – K. l. leucostomum (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1851)
• Southern white-lipped mud turtle – K. l. postinguinale (Cope, 1887)

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Kinosternon.

Etymology

The synonym, Cinosternon spurrelli Boulenger, 1913, which is a synonym of Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale, was named in honor of British zoologist Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). New Edition. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). x + 311 pp. + Plates I-III. (Cinosternon leucostomum, pp. 42–43).
• Duméril AMC, Bibron G (1851). "Cinosternon leucostomum ". In: Duméril AMC, Duméril A[HA] (1851). Catalogue Methodique de la Collection des Reptiles. Paris: Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris / Gide & Baudry. 224 pp. (Cinosternon leucostomum, new species, p. 17). (in French). ([1]).