John M. Legler

“ In the more northern parts of the Salado drainage (for example, in the Río Sabinas near Múzquiz) slider turtles are typical P. s. elegans. Assuming that conditions which permit genetic exchange between populations of turtles in the Salado drainage system differ in no major respect from conditions in other parts of the range of Pseudemys scripta, it is logical to suppose that the differentiation of P. s. taylori at Cuatro Ciénegas was preceded by the isolation of a population in that basin. ”

“ Geographic range.—Pseudemys scripta taylori is known only from ponds, and the Río Chiquito in the basin of Cuatro Ciénegas. The discovery of taylori brings to six the number of valid subspecies of scripta known in México (elegans, gaigeae, hiltoni, nebulosa, ornata, and taylori) and to three (elegans, gaigeae, and taylori) the number known in Coahuila. My own studies of these six subspecies indicate that they are, beyond reasonable doubt, members of a single polytypic species (scripta) . ”

“ In the two subspecies last named the longitudinal ridges on the plastron are indistinct or wanting and the bridge forms a lesser angle with the horizontal plane of the plastron.
The largest female of taylori (218 mm.) is shorter by some 30 mm. than the smaller female in the series of ornata from Tamaulipas whereas the largest male of taylori (179 mm.) is shorter by some 80 mm. than the smaller male from Tamaulipas. Pseudemys s. taylori probably is smaller, on the average, than either elegans or northern populations of ornata. ”