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About the Cover
Cover: Highly aquatic softshell turtles such as Apalone spinifera (bottom photograph) possess extensive webbing between the toes of the forefoot. This morphological specialization produces a broad paddle for generating thrust during swimming that is absent from generalized emydid turtles, such as the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta, top photograph). Measurements of three-dimensional forelimb kinematics during swimming show significant differences between the species that correlate with their different forelimb shapes. For example, both species generate thrust with a high-drag forelimb orientation during the thrust portion of the stroke (labelled T in the graph), but softshells minimize drag much more than sliders as the forelimb is brought forwards during the recovery portion of the stroke (labelled R in the graph). These contrasts indicate that rowing mechanics can vary substantially among turtles with differing degrees of aquatic specialization (see Pace, Blob and Westneat, pp. 3261-3271).
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