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Troost's Terrapin
- Colouration
- Owing to the lack of yellow stripes on the head, neck and limbs, this species is distinct from the others. On a few examples obscure, greenish stripes may be seen on the head and neck, but unless examined closely, these organs seem to be of a uniform hue. The effect is very different from the vividly-striped head of nearly all the larger terrapin.
- Dimensions
- -
- Distribution
- Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and Mississippi. Large numbers are received at the markets from Illinois.
Size large--carapace ten inches; shell flat. The carapace is bluntly rounded in front; more sharply rounded in the rear with dull serrations between the marginal shields and in the centre of each of them; upper shell usually quite smooth--sometimes furrowed on the sides.
The colouration of the shell is also characteristic. The carapace is olive, profusely blotched with black and irregularly so, except on the marginal shields, where the black is present at their junctions. Plastron yellow, blotched with black.
Length of Carapace . . . . . 8 1/2 inches.
Width of " . . . . . 6 1/2 inches.
Length of Plastron . . . . . 7 7/8 inches.
Width, Flat Portion, Plastron . . . . . 4 inches.
Height of Shell . . . . . 2 3/4 inches.
Width of Head . . . . . 1 3/8 inches.
These measurements are an average from several hundred examples from Fulton Market, New York.
As with most of the terrapin, the claws, particularly of the front feet, are very long; the longest claw on the front foot, of a reptile agreeing with the above measurements, was 7/8 of an inch long.