New species of turtle from southeastern U.S.

The Pearl River, which flows through Mississippi and Alabama, is famous as a possible habitat for surviving ivory-billed woodpeckers. It is also, though, home to the pearl map turtle, a new species. Northern Arizona University scientists have identified the animal as new based on geographic range, appearance, and DNA, and tagged it as Graptemys pearlensis. A good reminder that not all new species come from remote undeveloped places: some are right underfoot from an American perspective.