The Jalisco coast, already kind of a big deal in the world of turtle enthusiasts, has recently gifted a new species of shelled reptile to an excitable science community.
The turtle is called Casquito de Vallarta, or kinosternon vogti, and was discovered recently by researchers from the Universidad de Guadalajara’s Centro Universitario de la Costa, who presented their faunal trophy to the world last Monday.
According to the researchers, Casquito de Vallarta is quite tiny but with a thick shell, and feeds primarily on insects and seeds.
However, the newly discovered animal’s prospects for the future are tenuous at best, according to the UdG team. There are only about 20 members of the species, as far as they know, which constitutes a very slim foothold on survival, especially considering their habitat is in the immediate vicinity of Puerto Vallarta, a municipality whose rapacious growth knows little pity for endangered species, plant or animal.