. The ecological impact of man on the south Florida herpetofauna . Figure 31. Red-eared Slider {Pseiideniys scripta elcgans). (JB) in south Florida and became feral, but were not known to be breed- ing. One of us (LP) observed a number of caimans of various sizes in the late 1950's in a section of a canal which extended from Maule Lake to 27th Avenue. Ellis (1980) had information of caimans in canals in Miami as early as 1960. In 1968 specimens from a canal in North Miami in the vicinity of 22nd Avenue and 197th Street were brought to the animal trade by a local collector. Animals up
. The ecological impact of man on the south Florida herpetofauna . Figure 31. Red-eared Slider {Pseiideniys scripta elcgans). (JB) in south Florida and became feral, but were not known to be breed- ing. One of us (LP) observed a number of caimans of various sizes in the late 1950's in a section of a canal which extended from Maule Lake to 27th Avenue. Ellis (1980) had information of caimans in canals in Miami as early as 1960. In 1968 specimens from a canal in North Miami in the vicinity of 22nd Avenue and 197th Street were brought to the animal trade by a local collector. Animals up to six feet in length were captured and the collector reported having seen nests. We have been unable to determine the current status of this population. In 1976 an adult caiman with several young perched on its back was spotted near Coopertown on the Tamiami Trail (J. Wasilewski, pers. comm.). In 1980 a series of hatchling caimans were collected near the same locality (R. McDermott, pers. comm.). Ellis (1980) reported an established and breeding popula- tion confined to the canal system on the Homestead Air Force Base; the population was first discovered in 1974. Efforts have been made to extirpate this population, but have not been completely successful. Pseudemys scripta. —Three subspecies of the slider presumably have been reported introduced into south Florida. King and Krak- auer (1966) reported Chrysef)iys {=Pseudemys) s. elegans as estab- lished but not breeding and C. 5. callirostris and C. s. oruata as not having been seen again after their initial release. Specimens of the latter two subspecies were stated to have been released into the Red Road Canal at W. 27th Street in Hialeah. We have visited that locality several times without seeing any of these turtles. On the other hand, P. s. elegans (Fig. 31) is known to have been established
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