Description: 5 to 21 inches in shell length. A very flat turtle with a rounded, leathery skinned, flexible, shell which is keelless and unhinged. The snout is long with open nostrils on the end. The limbs are flat with broadly webbed feet. Color is olive, brown or grayish, sometimes with dark markings which fade with age.
The head and limbs are olive to gray with dark markings. Two dark-bordered light stripes mark each side of the head, extending from the back of the eye and from the back of the angle of the jaw. The shell has a yellowish border with a dark line around it. The carapace is rimmed with pale coloring which is four to five times wider on the rear than on the front and sides. There are pale conical spiny projections (tubercles) along the rear third of the shell. The plastron is yellowish and unmarked.
Males are smaller than females with a thick tail that extends beyond the carapace, and their pattern is more contrasted than that of females.
The shell has a sandpaper-like texture. Females become more blotched and mottled as they get older and have a smoother shell with well-developed warts on the front edge. Juveniles have prominent dark markings on the head and the limbs and black spots on the shell.
Habitat: it is found in permanent, not temporary, rivers, agricultural canals, drainage ditches, artificial lakes and ponds. Prefers still water with a muddy, sandy, or gravelly bottom, and aquatic vegetation.
Range: The Texas Spiny Softshell is native to the Rio Grande and Pecos River drainages in Texas and New Mexico, and the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and northern Mexico. It has also been introduced into parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Baja California.
Diet: Predominately carniverous. Eat insects, crayfish, worms, snails, fish, frogs, tadpoles, and reptiles. Both actively hunts its prey and sits still to ambush passing prey. May also scavenge its food.
Reproduction: From May to August, females crawl onto land to lay 1 or 2 clutches of 3 to 39 eggs on exposed, sunny, sandy banks. Hatchlings emerge from August to October.
Status: Because A. spinifera respire aquatically with pharyngeal gill slits and cloaca, they are vulnerable to Rotenone, a chemical that is used to kill unwanted fish. Rotenone hinders oxygen absorption and many soft shell turtles are now gone from Rotenone contaminated waters in the Great Lakes. Habitat fragmentation and shoreline development continues to threaten nesting sites. Along with other turtles, A. spinifera is hunted or shot for "fun" and human consumption. Eggs, hatchlings, and juveniles are threatened by various human activities and vulnerable to predators such as raccoons, foxes, and skunks, all of which thrive in areas of human development. They are not listed as endangered, vulnerable, or threatened by the IUCN, CITES, or the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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