1 The choices we make and the impacts they have: Machine learning and species delimitation in North American box turtles (Terrapene spp.) Running title: Box Turtle machine learning & species delimitation Authors: Bradley T. Martin 1,5,* , Tyler K. Chafin 1 , Marlis R. Douglas 1 , John S. Placyk Jr. 2,6 , Roger D. Birkhead 3 , Chris A. Phillips 4 , Michael E. Douglas 1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA; Email: (BTM) btm002@uark.edu (send reprint requests to this address); (TKC): tkchafin@uark.edu; (MRD): mrd1@uark.edu ; (MED): med1@uark.edu . 2 Department of Biology, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas, 75799, USA; Email: japlacyk@gmail.com 3 Alabama Science in Motion, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; Email: birkhrd@auburn.edu 4 Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 61820; Email: caphilli@illinois.edu Correspondence: BTM Present Addresses: 5 Global Campus, University of Arkansas, 2 E. Center St., Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA 6 Science Division, Trinity Valley Community College, Athens, Texas 75751, USA Disclosure statement: Authors have nothing to disclose . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license available under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted January 20, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.19.103598 doi: bioRxiv preprint