Tyler Terrapene Tissue Travels

CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 168 The Center for North American Herpetology Lawrence, Kansas http://www.cnah.org 2 April 2009 TYLER TERRAPENE TISSUE TRAVELS With the field season fast approaching, Jim Koukl and I at the University of Texas at Tyler once again solicit any party interested in the conservation of North American Box Turtles (Terrapene spp.) to collect tissue samples from throughout their range for us. The recent economy and a freeze on travel by the University of Texas system precludes us from traveling extensively at this time, which is why we need the help of willing volunteers. We are interested in tissue samples from any of the various species and subspecies of the genus Terrapene found in North America. We are able to obtain DNA from toe nails, toes, tail clips, shell shavings, blood, livers, and any type of muscle tissue. Toe nail clips are probably the easiest to collect and the least invasive, because they grow back. We are interested in samples from both live and dead turtles.Pets (if you have some idea from where they were collected) and roadkill will work fine. We are interested in samples from animals preserved in ethanol and formalin. If you are interested in helping, please let me know and I can provide you with tissue sample collection kits, more details, and answers to any other questions you may have. Thank you. John S. Placyk, Jr. Assistant Professor Department of Biology University of Texas at Tyler 3900 University Boulevard Tyler, Texas 75799 903-566-7147 John_Placyk@uttyler.edu