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Common Mud Turtle
- Colouration
- Upper shell dull olive or brown, the shields with narrow black margins. The plastron is yellow or pale brown.
- Dimensions
- The Common Mud Turtle attains a maximum size of four inches. Following are the measurements of an average sized specimen:
- Habits
- The habits of this species, and, in fact of all of the Mud Turtles, have practically been described under the head of the common musk turtle. The Mud Turtles are at perfect ease for an indefinite time in a deep tank of water without footing or support upon the surface. They are strictly aquatic in habits when in a wild state and prowl about the muddy bottoms of rivers and ponds in the search for food.
The upper shell is broader and more flat than with the musk turtles. (On the carapace of young specimens are three faint keels. On occasional adult specimens there is a blunt, central keel.) The plastron is nearly as wide as the opening of the shell--the front and rear lobes loosely hinged and capable of being drawn upward to protect the head, limbs and fleshy parts.
With the exception of the jaws, which are of a uniform olive, the head is usually brown, with numerous, greenish-yellow spots. On some specimens these spots run together, forming yellowish stripes on the sides of the head, a condition which causes the head to resemble that of the musk turtle, (A. odoratus), but the broad plastron at once distinguishes this species from the former.
Length of Carapace . . . . . 3 1/2 inches.
Width of Carapace . . . . . 2 1/2 inches.
Length of Plastron . . . . . 3 1/8 inches.
Width of Front Lobe at Hinge . . . . . 1 1/2 inches.
Width of Rear Lobe at Hinge . . . . . 1 1/2 inches.
Length of Bridge . . . . . 3/4 inches.
Width of Head . . . . . 3/4 inches.
The range of the Common Mud Turtle must be given as the eastern United States, from New York to the Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Mississippi Valley. It may extend farther westward but there appears to be rather a mix-up of western records and a tendency to confuse this with an altogether different species.
From this habitat, it will be observed that the Common Mud Turtle does not extend as far northward as its common eastern associate and ally--the musk turtle, nor does it occur so abundantly as that species.