Amboina Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
Burmese Star Tortoise
Tampa Bay
Turtle & Tortoise
Society, Inc.
Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
Concentric Diamondback Terrapin
Monthly Newsletter
August 2019 Issue
Date: August 10th 2019, starts at 7:00pm.
Guest speaker: Jordan Donini on The Natural History and Reproductive Biology of Diamondback
Terrapins. Jordan grew up in Southwest Florida and began keeping and working with reptiles from
a very early age. He attended FGCU and received a bachelor’s in biology with focus on organismal
biology. He also worked at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) on Sanibel Island for
several years before attaining a master’s degree in biology at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Currently he is a Professor of Biology at Florida Southwestern State College in Naples, Florida. His
research focuses on reproductive biology and physiology in turtles, with major emphasis on
Diamondback Terrapins, Box Turtles, Mud Turtles, Gopher Tortoises, and Chicken Turtles.
Diamondback Terrapins have an interesting and variable life history, living in coastal environments
from the Texas Gulf, up though the Northeastern United states. In this talk we’ll discuss a little
about their life history, their reproductive biology, and their role in human history itself, along with
my personal experiences with their reproductive physiology with some interesting notes from the
field.
Misc Notes
Please update your email information with Ralph Till at rascal1843@aol.com. We only use this
information for club business and it helps for club members to stay up to date on any last minutes
changes that may occur. It will also help ensure that you receive your electronic copy of our
monthly newsletter.
If you would like to submit an article or pictures to be published in the next upcoming newsletter,
please email it to Kim at sparty@tampabay.rr.com. Please submit by the end of the month to be
published in the next month’s newsletter.
If you have any qu