The US federal government has said it will decide whether protection is needed for a freshwater turtle found only in Mississippi and a related species found in Mississippi and Louisiana. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in January calling for a declaration that Pearl River map turtles and Pascagoula map turtles are endangered or threatened. Expand Close A Pearl River map turtle (University of Georgia/USGS/AP) AP / FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsapp A Pearl River map turtle (University of Georgia/USGS/AP)The settlement was proposed on June 12 and approved on Thursday by a US district court judge in Washington DC. Pascagoula and Pearl River map turtles are among 13 species of map turtles, named for shell markings that resemble maps. These two species look so similar that until June 2010 – two months after environmental groups asked protection for the Pascagoula map turtle – they were considered one species.

Source: Irish Independent July 07, 2020 09:00 UTC