Macrochelys temminckii (Troost in Harlan) — Alligator Snapping Turtle

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Legend
	Exact locality, based on specimen(s) or photographs examined
	Exact locality, based on literature record believed valid
	Approximate locality based on specimen(s) or photographs examined
	Approximate locality based on literature record believed valid
	County record only, based on specimens or photographs examined
	County record only, based on literature report believed valid
	Type locality
?	Questionable and/or problematic record

Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized (Iverson et al. 2008).

Distribution: The Alligator Snapping Turtle has been documented and/or reported from the Wolf River, Hatchie River, and Reelfoot Lake in the Mississippi River drainage; Kentucky Lake and a number of its western and eastern tributaries in the Tennessee River drainage; and Lake Barkley, and the Stones River at Percy Priest Dam in the lower Cumberland River drainage. The type locality of Macrochelys temminckii (Chelonura temminckii in the original description) was given as a tributary stream of the Mississippi, which enters that river above Memphis, in West Tennessee (Harlan 1835).  Due to the imprecise nature of this locality statement, we did not attempt to plot the type locality, although it is probably the Wolf or Loosahatchie River.

Museum Records by Counties: Benton—APSU 3289.  Fayette—APSU 18868.  Hamilton—APSU 17486.  Henry—APSU 1038.  Houston—APSU 5443, 5490, 5526, 6043, 6048, 6123.  Humphreys—APSU 3843, 6058, 6124.   Stewart—APSU 4738, 4751, 4762, 5267, 5366, 5434-5438.  Tipton—APSU 19066.  Wayne—APSU 18868.

Literature Sources by Counties: Benton—Endsley (1954).  Davidson—Murrian (1970).  Hamilton—Ekkens and Collins (2008).  Hardeman—Norton (1971), Norton and Harvey (1975).  Henderson—Gentry (1956).  Houston—Scott et al. (2000), Scott and Sutton (2001a), Scott and Sutton (2001b).  Humphreys—Gentry (1956).  Humphreys/Benton—Petit (1978). Obion—Rhoads (1895), Parker (1939), Parker (1948).  Lake—Rhoads (1895), Gentry (1956).  Shelby—Parker (1948).  Stewart—Scott (1990), Koons and Scott (1993), Scott (1994), Scott and Koons (1994), Scott and Sutton (2001b).  Tipton—Parker (1948), Colvin (2011a).  Wayne—Harden (2008).

Questionable and/or Erroneous Records: None.

Conservation Status: Tennessee populations of Macrochelys temminckii are considered Wildlife in Need of Management by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission (Proclamation 00-14, Wildlife in Need of Management) and are given state rankings of S2 (very rare and imperiled within the state, six to twenty occurrences, or few remaining individuals, or because of some factor(s) making it vulnerable to extinction) and S3 (rare and uncommon in the state, from 21-100 occurrences) by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Natural Heritage (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation 2004).