Pearl River map turtle
# Pearl River map turtle

The Pearl River map turtle (Graptemys pearlensis) is a species of emydid turtle native to the southern United States. According to a study done in January 2017, the species G. pearlensis was significantly less abundant in the Pearl River region as compared to G. oculifera and exhibited a smaller number of reproductively mature females. Further, this study highlighted statistical and observational evidence that this species exhibited female-biased, sexual dimorphism.

## Geographic range

It is endemic to the Pearl River in Louisiana and Mississippi. The ringed map turtle (G. oculifera) is also endemic to the Pearl River.

## Taxonomy

Until 2010, it was included in the Pascagoula map turtle (G. gibbonsi), which it resembles. In 2010 Ennen and his colleagues described Graptemys pearlensis as a new species. They used sequence variation of the mitochondrial control region along with the ND4 gene and found out three samples of Graptemys pearlensis constituting reciprocally monophyletic sister clades.

