Records of the turtles with the morphological characters of Mauremys mutica and Chinemys reevesii in the Inbanuma basin, Chiba Prefecture

Abstract

Two fresh water turtles captured in the Inbanuma basin in 2004 and 2005 were identified as hybrids between Mauremys mutica and Chinemys reevesii. Analysis of eight morphological charactersrevealed that the hybrids had characters that were mosaics of two presumed parent species . Hybrids with exotic Mauremys mutica might result from recent establishment of M. mutica in this area. Management practices for conservation of native turtles are urgently needed.