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Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum)
Eastern Mud Turtle Photograph by LA Dawson. Some rights reserved. (view image details)
EASTERN MUD TURTLE FACTS
DescriptionThe Eastern Mud Turtle is a small turtle with a dull brown carapace. The scutes are sometimes dark bordered. The sides of head are spotted or mottled with yellow. The underside (plastron) is dark brown or tan. The male has a patch of rough scales behind the knee and has a longer thicker tail tipped with a claw. The hatchlings have a dark carapace and an orange, red, or yellow plastron. Size carapace length 7cm - 12.5cm Environment Shallow stagnant or slow-moving water - wetlands, backwaters, cypress swamps, temporary water. Wanders overland to get to water. Food Omnivorous - forages along the shallows for mollusks, crustaceans, insects, and plants. Breeding The female lays 2 - 5 oval eggs under debris or in burrows dug using the front and hind limbs. Range The Eastern Mud Turtle is found from Long Island, New York, southward to Florida and the Gulf Coast, westward through the Gulf Coast states, northward through the Mississippi Valley including western Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Indiana and Illinois, extreme southeastern Missouri, Arkansas, and westward through eastern Oklahoma, and eastern and central Texas Classification
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