Fig. 4 in Postnatal Ontogeny Of The Skull In Th E Ex Tant North Am Eric An Turtle Sternotherus Odoratus (Crypto Dir A: Kinosterni Dae) G A B E S. B E V Er

Fig. 4. Illustrations of three skeletal characters often used to estimate maturity in turtles and their graphical relationship with greatest length of the carapace for Sternotherus odoratus from the SMRS. These characters include closure of the costoperipheral fontanelles (A), closure of the ectepicondylar foramen in the humerus (B), and closure of the otic fontanelle (C). Shaded squares represent juvenile males, clear squares represent juvenile females. Shaded circles represent adult males, clear circles represent adult females. The transformation of these features during postnatal ontogeny has a variable relationship with the average carapace length at which specimens become sexually mature in southern populations of S. odoratus (dashed lines; Tinkle, 1961).