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Barred Terrapin
- Colouration
- Carapace olive, with numerous, irregular wavy lines and bands extending downward; these are generally edged with a darker hue than the ground colour. There is a yellow, vertical line in the centre of each of the upper, marginal plates, and fine, yellow, ring-like (concentric) markings, crossing from one shield to another. Along the lower, marginal shields is a single row of large, dark blotches. Plastron usually uniform yellow.
- Dimensions
- -
- Distribution
- The Southeastern United States, from the Carolinas southward to Florida; westward to Missouri.
Shell broad and flat; bluntly serrated at the rear; carapace furrowed or wrinkled (rugose) on the sides.
The markings on the upper shell resemble those of C. elegans--the Cumberland Terrapin, but the arrangement of the stripes on the head is quite different.
Head Markings.--Head black, with rich, orange yellow or red stripes. On the top of the head is a narrow bar, about five-eighths of an inch in length (on an adult of average size); back of this and to each side of it, are very narrow, forked stripes. A narrow stripe borders the eye above, thence extends over the temples where it broadens and runs to the neck; from behind the eye is another band, extending to the neck; beneath the eye is a wide stripe which forks, one portion passing toward the chin and the other backward to the neck. A broad, forked band on the middle of the chin.
Length of Carapace . . . . . 12 inches.
Width of " . . . . . 8 1/4 inches.
Height of " . . . . . 4 1/2 inches.
Width of Head . . . . . 1 1/2 inches.