The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta") is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus "Chrysemys", which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Four regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, southern, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The adult painted turtle female is long; the male is smaller. 5-6" The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge.
Introduction
Painted turtle
Painted turtle | Introduction
It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific They find their homes in shallow waters with slow-moving currents, such as creeks, marshes, ponds, and the shores of lakes Fresh waters with soft bottoms, basking sites, and aquatic vegetation. They need fresh waters with soft bottoms, basking sites, and aquatic vegetation. They find their homes in shallow waters with slow-moving currents, such as creeks, marshes, ponds, and the shores of lakes.
how long does it take for painted turtles to hatch
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Hatched turtles grow until sexual maturity: 2–9 years for males, 6–16 for females.
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where are they most commonly found?
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North America
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and what is their preferred domain of habitation?
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The most widespread North American turtle, the painted turtle is the only turtle whose native range extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is native to eight of Canada's ten provinces, forty-five of the fifty United States, and one of Mexico's thirty-one states. On the East Coast, it lives from the Canadian Maritimes to the U.S. state of Georgia. On the West Coast, it lives in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon and offshore on southeast Vancouver Island. The northernmost American turtle, its range includes much of southern Canada. To the south, its range reaches the U.S. Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Alabama.
Painted turtle | Range
Painted wood turtles live in rainforests, shallow rivers and bushes. Although they are mostly terrestrial, they can occasionally be found in shallow water.
Painted wood turtle | Habitat
To thrive, painted turtles need fresh waters with soft bottoms, basking sites, and aquatic vegetation. They find their homes in shallow waters with slow-moving currents, such as creeks, marshes, ponds, and the shores of lakes. The subspecies have evolved different habitat preferences.
Painted turtle | Habitat
It is found in Mexico (from Sonora southwards) and Central America, as far south as Costa Rica.
Painted wood turtle | Distribution
The eastern painted turtle ranges from southeastern Canada to Georgia with a western boundary at approximately the Appalachians. At its northern extremes, the turtle tends to be restricted to the warmer areas closer to the Atlantic Ocean. It is uncommon in far north New Hampshire and in Maine is common only in a strip about 50 miles from the coast. In Canada, it lives in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia but not in Quebec or Prince Edward Island. To the south it is not found in the coastal lowlands of southern North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia, or in southern Georgia in general or at all in Florida.
Painted turtle | Eastern painted turtle
The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta") is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus "Chrysemys", which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Four regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, southern, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The adult painted turtle female is long; the male is smaller. 5-6" The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge.
Painted turtle | Introduction
The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta") is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus "Chrysemys", which is part of the pond turtle family, Emydidae. In Wyoming, the sub-species "C. p. bellii" is found in permanent ponds, reservoirs, marshes, and slow moving streams, below .
Amphibians and reptiles of Wyoming | Western painted turtle
In the southwestern United States there are only dispersed populations. It is found in one river in extreme northern Mexico. It is absent in a part of southwestern Virginia and the adjacent states as well as in north-central Alabama. The borders between the four subspecies are not sharp, because the subspecies interbreed. Many studies have been performed in the border regions to assess the intermediate turtles, usually by comparing the anatomical features of hybrids that result from intergradation of the classical subspecies. Despite the imprecision, the subspecies are assigned nominal ranges.
Painted turtle | Range
The painted turtle's high reproduction rates and its ability to survive in habitats affected by humans, such as polluted wetlands and artificially made ponds, have allowed it to maintain its range. In New England, the Turtle Conservation Project notes: "Ironically, prime habitat has been created by fertilizer runoff, creating vegetation-clogged lakes; just what Painted Turtles like." Only at the extremities of the Pacific Northwest is the turtle's actual range eroding. Even there, in Washington, the painted turtle is common: it is designated S5 (demonstrably widespread). However, further south, in Oregon (the north third of the state is painted turtle range), the painted turtle is designated S2 (imperiled).
Conservation of painted turtles | Introduction
Within much of its range, the painted turtle is the most abundant turtle species. Population densities range from 10 to 840 turtles per hectare (2.5 acres) of water surface. Warmer climates produce higher relative densities among populations, and habitat desirability also influences density. Rivers and large lakes have lower densities because only the shore is desirable habitat; the central, deep waters skew the surface-based estimates. Also, lake and river turtles have to make longer linear trips to access equivalent amounts of foraging space. Adults outnumber juveniles in most populations, but gauging the ratios is difficult because juveniles are harder to catch; with current sampling methods, estimates of age distribution vary widely.
Painted turtle | Population features
The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta") is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus "Chrysemys", which is part of the pond turtle family, Emydidae.
List of amphibians and reptiles of Oregon | Painted turtle
border, mostly in the southeast. In British Columbia, populations exist in the interior in the vicinity of the Kootenai, Columbia, Okanagan, and Thompson river valleys. At the coast, turtles occur near the mouth of the Fraser and a bit further north, as well as the bottom of Vancouver Island, and some other nearby islands. Within British Columbia, the turtle's range is not continuous and can better be understood as northward extensions of the range from the United States. High mountains present barriers to east–west movement of the turtles within the province or from Alberta. Some literature has shown isolated populations much further north in British Columbia and Alberta, but these were probably pet-releases.
Painted turtle | Western painted turtle
The southern painted turtle ranges from extreme southern Illinois and Missouri, roughly along the Mississippi River Valley, to the south. In Arkansas, it branches out to the west towards Texas, where it is found in the far northeast part of that state (Caddo Lake region) as well as extreme southeastern Oklahoma (McCurtain County). It is found in much of Louisiana, where it reaches the Gulf of Mexico (in fresh water). Eastward it is found in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and much of Alabama, including the Gulf Coast city of Mobile. An isolated population in central Texas has been reported but is now believed to be non-native.
Painted turtle | Southern painted turtle
Only within the Pacific Northwest is the turtle's range eroding. Even there, in Washington, the painted turtle is designated S5 (demonstrably widespread). However, in Oregon, the painted turtle is designated S2 (imperiled), and in British Columbia, the turtle's populations in the Coast and Interior regions are labeled "endangered" and "of special concern", respectively.
Painted turtle | Conservation
Based on comparative measurements of turtles from throughout the range, they subordinated species to subspecies and eliminated "treleasei". Since at least 1958, the subspecies were thought to have evolved in response to geographic isolation during the last ice age, 100,000 to 11,000 years ago. At that time painted turtles were divided into three different populations: eastern painted turtles along the southeastern Atlantic coast; southern painted turtles around the southern Mississippi River; and western painted turtles in the southwestern United States. The populations were not completely isolated for sufficiently long, hence wholly different species never evolved. When the glaciers retreated, about 11,000 years ago, all three subspecies moved north.
Painted turtle | Classification
The western painted turtle's northern range includes southern parts of western Canada from Ontario through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In Ontario, the western subspecies is found north of Minnesota and directly north of Lake Superior, but there is a gap to the east of Lake Superior (in the area of harshest winter climate) where no painted turtles of any subspecies occur. Thus Ontario's western subspecies does not intergrade with the midland painted turtle of southeastern Ontario. In Manitoba, the turtle is numerous and ranges north to Lake Manitoba and the lower part of Lake Winnipeg. The turtle is also common in south Saskatchewan, but in Alberta, there may only be 100 individuals, all found very near the U.S.
Painted turtle | Western painted turtle
Pet releases are starting to establish the painted turtle outside its native range. It has been introduced into waterways near Phoenix, Arizona, and to Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Spain.
Painted turtle | Human-introduced range
The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta") is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus "Chrysemys", which is part of the pond turtle family, Emydidae. In Idaho, painted turtles can be found in the northern portion of the state, and have been reported in western Idaho in waters associated with the Payette and Boise Rivers, and in eastern Idaho near St. Anthony.
List of amphibians and reptiles of Idaho | Western painted turtle
Males move the most and are most likely to change wetlands because they seek mates. The painted turtles, through visual recognition, have homing capabilities. Many individuals can return to their collection points after being released elsewhere, trips that may require them to traverse land. One experiment placed 98 turtles varying several-kilometer distances from their home wetland; 41 returned. When living in a single large body of water, the painted turtles can home from up to away. Females may use homing to help locate suitable nesting sites.
Painted turtle | Movement
The painted stork is widely distributed over the plains of Asia. They are found south of the Himalayan ranges and are bounded on the west by the Indus River system where they are rare and extend eastwards into Southeast Asia. They are absent from very dry or desert regions, dense forests and the higher hill regions. They are rare in most of Kerala and the species appears to have expanded into that region only in the 1990s. They prefer freshwater wetlands in all seasons, but also use irrigation canals and crop fields, particularly flooded rice fields during the monsoon. They are resident in most regions but make seasonal movements.
Painted stork | Distribution and habitat
"Myuchelys latisternum" is most often located in headwaters or tributaries of larger rivers in creeks, waterholes, dams, and lakes. However they are a highly adaptable species and have been seen in a variety of landscapes such as savannah woodlands, tropical rainforest, farmland, and semi-urban environments. Can be observed on logs and rocks adjacent to their habitat for basking, it is unknown if this is for thermoregulatory purposes or not.
Saw-shelled turtle | Habitat and ecology
The midland painted turtle lives from southern Ontario and Quebec, through the eastern U.S. Midwest states, to Kentucky, Tennessee and northwestern Alabama, where it intergrades with the southern painted turtle. It also is found eastward through West Virginia, western Maryland and Pennsylvania. The midland painted turtle appears to be moving east, especially in Pennsylvania. To the northeast it is found in western New York and much of Vermont, and it intergrades extensively with the eastern subspecies.
Painted turtle | Midland painted turtle
These turtles have been found in Cretaceous to Paleogene of Canada, United States, Mongolia, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Adocus | Distribution
The species is currently classified as least concern by the IUCN but populations have been subject to decline locally. The decline in painted turtle populations is not a simple matter of dramatic range reduction, like that of the . Instead the turtle is classified as G5 (demonstrably widespread) in its Natural Heritage Global Rank, and the IUCN rates it as a species of least concern. The painted turtle's high reproduction rate and its ability to survive in polluted wetlands and artificially made ponds have allowed it to maintain its range, but the post-Columbus settlement of North America has reduced its numbers.
Painted turtle | Conservation
In the United States, the western subspecies forms a wide intergrade area with the midland subspecies covering much of Illinois as well as a strip of Wisconsin along Lake Michigan and part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP). Further west, the rest of Illinois, Wisconsin and the UP are part of the range proper, as are all of Minnesota and Iowa, as well as all of Missouri except a narrow strip in the south. All of North Dakota is within range, all of South Dakota except a very small area in the west, and all of Nebraska. Almost all of Kansas is in range; the border of that state with Oklahoma is roughly the species range border, but the turtle is found in three counties of north central Oklahoma.
Painted turtle | Western painted turtle
Medem (1966) reported the habitat was originally ponds and small brooks within forests, but with the clearing of the woodlands the entire area around the type locality has been transformed into pastures. There, turtles seem to prefer shallow, quiet water bodies, where they fill a bottom-dwelling niche. Aestivation occurs during dry periods.
Dahl's toad-headed turtle | Habitat
Although the subspecies of painted turtle intergrade (blend together) at range boundaries they are distinct within the hearts of their ranges.
Painted turtle | Subspecies
Although its evolutionary history—what the forerunner to the species was and how the close relatives branched off—is not well understood, the painted turtle is common in the fossil record. The oldest samples, found in Nebraska, date to about 15 million years ago. Fossils from 15 million to about 5 million years ago are restricted to the Nebraska-Kansas area, but more recent fossils are gradually more widely distributed. Fossils newer than 300,000 years old are found in almost all the United States and southern Canada.
Painted turtle | Fossils
During this time, they can be found in wooded areas with wide open canopies. However, even here, they are never far from water and will enter it every few days.
Wood turtle | Distribution and habitat
The decline in painted turtle populations is not a simple story of dramatic range reduction, such as the American bison. Instead, the turtle remains numerous and occupies its original range—it is classified as G5 (demonstrably widespread) in its Natural Heritage Global Rank—however, the settlement of North America has undoubtedly reduced its population density. Since at least 1952, scientists have noted human impact on the painted turtle. Ernst and Lovich, in their 2009 turtle almanac, acknowledge that estimates of species-specific population changes are lacking, but say that it is useful to discuss general factors affecting all turtles. However, these pressures are generally more pressing on turtles of the sea, estuary or land, or already rare turtles.
Conservation of painted turtles | Introduction
Painted dragons are found throughout the drier parts of southeastern Western Australia, across South Australia to northwestern Victoria and central-western New South Wales. They prefer semi-arid to arid regions, favouring shrublands and hummock grasslands on sandy and saline soils.
Ctenophorus pictus | Distribution and habitat
The desert box turtle is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It lives in desert grasslands/shrublands and may face a drier, more severe environment compared with other box turtles in North America. They prefer arid, open prairie areas but have also been found in grassland regions where there is an abundance of yucca around. They prefer small defined areas where they can be well aware of their surroundings and the locations of their food, shelter and overwintering sites.
Desert box turtle | Habitat
Trapping is not allowed in Oregon, where western painted turtle populations are in decline, and in Missouri, where there are populations of both southern and western subspecies. In Canada, Ontario protects both subspecies present, the midland and western, and British Columbia protects its dwindling western painted turtles.
Painted turtle | Capture
The painted wood turtle can be found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Spot-legged wood turtle | Distribution
The introduction of non-native species is another threat to the painted turtle. Red-eared sliders are the most common pet turtle and are native to the US Southeast only. They have been widely released (or escaped) and have established breeding populations in many parts of the painted turtle range, including Canada. They are a similar species in size and habits to the painted turtle, so they may be added competition, but the impact is uncertain. In the eastern United States, the painted turtle already shares territory with yellow-bellied and Cumberland sliders (which mix readily with red-eared sliders), so there, the pet-released invasions are less likely to be a significant new threat.
Conservation of painted turtles | Introduced species
The northern map turtle inhabits ponds, rivers, and lakes. They prefer large bodies of water and areas with fallen trees and other debris for basking. These turtles are more often found in rivers than in lakes or ponds. They are found in larger rivers and lakes in the northern portion of their range but are more likely to live in smaller rocky rivers and streams in the south and west. Since they are turtles, naturally they need the sun to survive.
Northern map turtle | Habitat
The western and southern subspecies met in Missouri and hybridized to produce the midland painted turtle, which then moved east and north through the Ohio and Tennessee river basins.
Painted turtle | Classification
These turtles have been found in Cretaceous to Paleogene of United States.
Adocus beatus | Distribution
An alternate East Coast common name for the painted turtle is "skilpot", from the Dutch for turtle, "schildpad".
Painted turtle | Taxonomy and evolution
Tortoises are found from southern North America to southern South America, around the Mediterranean basin, across Eurasia to Southeast Asia, in sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and some Pacific islands. They are absent from Australasia. They live in diverse habitats, including deserts, arid grasslands, and scrub to wet evergreen forests, and from sea level to mountains. Most species, however, occupy semiarid habitats.
Tortoise | Distribution
The desert box turtle ranges across the plain of central North America west to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and south to Northern Mexico and South Texas. They are commonly found in the southwestern area, including much of New Mexico, the Trans-Pecos region of Texas or the “Big Bend” region of Texas, Southeastern Arizona, south into Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico, and is the adjacent to northern Mexico. They have relatively small home ranges and exhibit strong site fidelity, meaning that they always seem to attempt a return to their site of origin.
Desert box turtle | Geographic range
The preferred habitats of "P. tentoria" are freshwater rivers and swamps.
Indian tent turtle | Habitat
The painted turtle ("Chrysemys picta", Salish: sp̓lqʷá) is a turtle of the family Emydidae that is endemic to southern Canada and the United States. "Chrysemys" is a monotypic genus however, four distinct subspecies of painted turtle occur. It is small, measuring and weighing with females being larger than males. It has a smooth, flat, oval, and keelless carapace (shell) and a base skin color of black to olive. One of the distinguishing characteristics of this turtle is the red, orange, or yellow "painted" pattern on its legs, tail, neck, and face.
List of amphibians and reptiles of Montana | Painted turtle
"T. ornata ornata" is found in the central United States from western Indiana, to eastern Texas and into Louisiana. "T. ornata luteola" inhabits the driest areas of all the box turtle species, and is found in western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and adjoining areas of northern Mexico.
Terrapene ornata | Range
"P. subrufa" is a semiaquatic animal, living in rivers, lakes, and marshes, and it also occupies rain pools and places that are fertilized. Its preference seems to be for standing water, such as swamps, pans, dams, and lakes. However it is found to a lesser extent along rivers. It is generally absent from regions that are mountainous, forested, or desert.
African helmeted turtle | Habitat
It lives in areas with tropical climates within humid forests at shallow rainwater puddles.
Mexican box turtle | Habitat
The keeled box turtle is a terrestrial species, and can be frequently found in small caves and rock crevices. It can also be found in forests, in deep layers of leaves.
Keeled box turtle | Habitat
The common box turtle inhabits open woodlands, road sides, road middles, marshy meadows, floodplains, scrub forests and brushy grasslands in much of the eastern United States, from Maine and Michigan to eastern Texas and south Florida. It is found in Canada in southern Ontario and in Mexico along the Gulf Coast and in the Yucatán Peninsula. The species range is not continuous as the two Mexican subspecies, "T. c. mexicana" (Mexican box turtle) and "T. c. yucatana" (Yucatán box turtle), are separated from the US subspecies by a gap in western Texas. Three of the US subspecies; "T. c. carolina" (eastern box turtle), "T.
Common box turtle | Distribution
c. major" (Gulf Coast box turtle) and "T. c. bauri" (Florida box turtle); occur roughly in the areas indicated by their names. "T. c. triunguis" (three-toed box turtle) is found in the central United States.
Common box turtle | Distribution
"E. orbicularis" prefers to live in wetlands surrounded by a large proportion of natural, wooded, landscape. It also feeds in upland environments. It is usually considered semi-aquatic, as its terrestrial movements can span , and it is occasionally found travelling up to , away from the water.
European pond turtle | Habitat
The preferred natural habitats of "P. smithii" are freshwater swamps and rivers.These creatures also prefer to bask in the sun,twice a day.often prefer muddy areas.
Brown roofed turtle | Habitat
Because box turtles occupy a wide variety of habitats (which both vary on a day-to-day, season-to-season, but also species-to-species basis), a standard box turtle habitat cannot be identified. Mesic woodlands are a habitat where box turtles are generally found. "T. ornata" is the only species regularly found in grasslands, but its subspecies the desert box turtle is also found in the semidesert with rainfall predominantly in summer. The single location where Coahuilan box turtles are found is a 360 km region characterized by marshes, permanent presence of water and several types of cacti. Prior to hibernation, box turtles tend to move further into the woods, where they dig a chamber for overwintering.
Box turtle | Habitat
The eastern subspecies's range extends slightly into east central Alabama, where it intergrades with the southern subspecies. In the northeast, there is extensive mixing with the midland subspecies, and some writers have called these turtles a "hybrid swarm". In the southeast, the border between the eastern and midland is more sharp as mountain chains separate the subspecies to different drainage basins.
Painted turtle | Eastern painted turtle
The home range generally consists of . In general, males have larger home ranges than females, and home range size increases with increasing resources and rainfall.
Desert tortoise | Habitat
They winter in South Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas, along both coasts of Mexico and through much of Central America. Occasionally, they may be vagrants further north, including to New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The bird is also found every few years as far north as New Brunswick, Canada. Genetic analyses showed that the species can be divided into three main groups on their breeding grounds: a western, central and eastern group.
Painted bunting | Distribution and habitat
The geographic distribution of the ornate box turtle includes a large part of the Midwest, from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico and from Louisiana to Colorado. It was first discovered in Nebraska in 1795, where "vast numbers" were found. The turtle is usually found in grasslands and on land rather than in water; they have been found in all habitat types of the Great Plains except aquatic, though most references indicate they prefer open grass or prairie lands. Several studies indicate that the ornate box turtle needs three specific types of microhabitats in order to survive: Water is important for this turtle to regulate body temperature in hot weather and to replace body water after hibernation, but they do not spend large amounts of time in flowing or standing water.
Ornate box turtle | Distribution and temperature
They are often found around estuaries and swampy regions, near shallow, permanent bodies of water.
Gulf Coast box turtle | Habitat
Plus, they are notorious for returning to their site of origin and have very small home ranges where they exhibit high fidelity and used it as overwintering sites.
Desert box turtle | Conservation
Painted wood turtles can be kept as pets, and it has long been imported into the various parts of Asia, such as Japan, Taiwan and China. The nominate subspecies is the most common subspecies kept in captivity. They will eat commercial turtle food, and will also eat plant matter.
Painted wood turtle | In captivity
The painted turtle ("C. picta") is the only species in the genus "Chrysemys". The parent family for "Chrysemys" is Emydidae: the pond turtles. Emydidae is split into two sub families; "Chrysemys" is part of the Deirochelyinae (Western Hemisphere) branch. The four subspecies of the painted turtle are the eastern ("C. p. picta"), midland ("C. p. marginata"), southern ("C. p. dorsalis"), and western ("C. p. bellii"). The painted turtle's generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words for "gold" ("chryso") and "freshwater tortoise" ("emys"); the species name originates from the Latin for "colored" ("pictus"). The subspecies name, "marginata", derives from the Latin for "border" and refers to the red markings on the outer (marginal) part of the upper shell; "dorsalis" is from the Latin for "back", referring to the prominent dorsal stripe; and "bellii" honors English zoologist Thomas Bell, a collaborator of Charles Darwin.
Painted turtle | Taxonomy and evolution
These turtles inhabit streams, lakes and swamps with abundant aquatic vegetation and soft bottoms.
Phrynops hilarii | Habitat
The female weighs around on average, against the males' average adult weight of roughly . The female's greater body volume supports her egg-production. The male has longer foreclaws and a longer, thicker tail, with the anus (cloaca) located further out on the tail.
Painted turtle | Description
The wood turtle is found in most New England states, Nova Scotia, west to Michigan, northern Indiana and Minnesota, and south to Virginia. Overall, the distribution is disjunct with populations often being small and isolated. Roughly 30% of its total population is in Canada. It prefers slow-moving streams containing a sandy bottom and heavily vegetated banks. The soft bottoms and muddy shores of these streams are ideal for overwintering. Also, the areas bordering the streams (usually with open canopies ) are used for nesting. Spring to summer is spent in open areas including forests, fields, bogs, wet meadows, and beaver ponds.
Wood turtle | Distribution and habitat
The preferred habitats of "A. taghitensis" are shrubland and desert.
Acanthodactylus taghitensis | Habitat
The spotted turtle's range overlaps that of many other turtles. It can often be found in the same wetlands as wood turtles, bog turtles, snapping turtles, painted turtles, Blanding's turtles, eastern box turtles, common musk turtles, and eastern mud turtles.
Spotted turtle | Population features
The preferred natural habitats of "C. sworderi" are desert and freshwater wetlands.
Cyrtodactylus sworderi | Habitat
Individuals found in the west of its geographic range (areas like the Great Lakes and the Midwest United States) have a paler complexion on the inside of the legs and underside of the neck than ones found in the east (places including the Appalachian Mountains, New York, and Pennsylvania). Genetic analysis has also revealed that southern populations have less genetic diversity than the northern; however, both exhibit a fair amount of diversity considering the decline in numbers that have occurred during previous ice ages.
Wood turtle | Taxonomy
The complete sequencing of the genetic code for the painted turtle was at a "draft assembled" state in 2010. The turtle was one of two reptiles chosen to be first sequenced.
Painted turtle | DNA
Chicken turtles are semiaquatic turtles, found both in water and on land. They prefer quiet, still bodies of water such as shallow ponds and lakes, ditches, marshes, cypress swamps, and Carolina bays. They prefer water with dense vegetation and soft substrate. Chicken turtles will also bask frequently and are tolerant of ephemeral aquatic habitats. They readily travel onto land to burrow into the soil and escape dry conditions. They have been found at depths of a few centimeters to more than 2 m.
Chicken turtle | Habitat
"Kinosternon leucostomum" is found in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
White-lipped mud turtle | Geographic range
The preferred habitat of "A. tilburyi" is desert.
Acanthodactylus tilburyi | Habitat
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, urban areas, water storage areas, ponds, aquaculture ponds, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. Humans may have facilitated the dispersal of "K. picta" in the Philippines as forests were converted into agricultural-use land.
Painted narrowmouth toad | Habitat
The abundant small lakes support painted turtles ("Chrysemys picta"), wood frogs ("Lithobates sylvaticus"), the Northern Leopard Frog ("Lithobates pipiens"), and the barred tiger salamander ("Ambystoma mavortium").
Turtle Mountain (plateau) | Wildlife
Because their prey are typically aquatic, the younger turtles are found in water more often than adults.
Cyclemys | Distribution and habitat
An obvious threat to painted turtles comes from habitat loss by drying of wetlands. Even when water remains, the turtles may be impacted by the clearing of logs or rocks that provide basking sites. Also, clearing of shorelines' vegetation may make allow more predator access, or increased human foot traffic, which make onshore basking untenable. Away from the water, urbanization or vegetation-planting, even for stream restoration, can remove the open sunny soils needed for nesting.
Conservation of painted turtles | Habitat loss
Males have a mean home range area of 1.12 ha (2.77 acres) and a mean home range length of . Females have a mean home range area of 5.75 ha (14.20 acres), due to nesting activities, and a mean home range length of .
Yellow-blotched map turtle | Home range
This is because of the species preferring cold water to warm.
Tetraspora | Habitat
"Glyptemys" turtles are endemic to eastern North America. Their collective range extends from Nova Scotia south to Georgia and from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota. These turtles are semiaquatic and are commonly found in bogs, fens, and small streams which have soft yet compacted, sandy bottoms.
Glyptemys | Distribution and habitat
"C. mouhotii" occurs in Burma, China, India, Laos, and Vietnam, and also in Bhutan and Thailand.
Keeled box turtle | Geographic range
The Tyrrhenian painted frog is found in most parts of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia but it is not present in the central highlands. It is also present on several small islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea such as Iles d'Hyères, Giglio, Montecristo, and the Monte Argentario peninsula in Tuscany. Its habitats include coastal plains, forest streams, maquis shrubland and upland coniferous forests. Slow streams and pools are used for breeding and this frog can tolerate brackish water.
Tyrrhenian painted frog | Distribution and habitat
It is found in the Mexican state of Yucatán.
Yucatán box turtle | Geographic range
The preferred habitats of "T. rakiurae" are shrubland and wetlands.
Harlequin gecko | Habitat
Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight-aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the southern has a red line on the top shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell. The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatchlings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators.
Painted turtle | Introduction
Females and juveniles are paler than the males. The Adamawa turtle dove inhabits a range of habitats, from sea level to , particularly forest edge, wooded ravines, gallery forest, suburban gardens and farmland. It is uncertain if the species is migratory, or possibly nomadic, as periods when the species is present in unexpected locations may simply reflect poor ornithological knowledge of the area.
Adamawa turtle dove | Introduction
The painted terrapin, painted batagur, or saw-jawed turtle ("Batagur borneoensis") is a species of turtles in the family Geoemydidae. It was formerly in its own genus, "Callagur", but has been reclassified to the genus, "Batagur".
Painted terrapin | Introduction
There, federal, state and Portland city governments are working to better understand and arrest the decline of the painted turtle. North of Washington, in British Columbia, the turtle is also in peril. There coastal populations are designated as endangered and Interior populations are designated as "of special concern". The iconic painted turtle is popular in British Columbia and the province is further motivated to stop the loss of the painted turtle because it has already lost all populations of its other native turtle species, the western pond turtle. However, despite conservation efforts, only a few thousand turtles remain in the entire province.
Conservation of painted turtles | Introduction
Its distribution is limited to the Pascagoula River of Mississippi and most of its tributaries (a range it shares with the Pascagoula map turtle).
Yellow-blotched map turtle | Geographic range
In the Midwest, they are a Species of Concern in Ohio, and of Special Concern in Michigan and Indiana. Eastern box turtles prefer deciduous or mixed forested regions, with a moderately moist forest floor that has good drainage. Bottomland forest is preferred over hillsides and ridges. They can also be found in open grasslands, pastures, or under fallen logs or in moist ground, usually moist leaves or wet dirt. They have also been known to take "baths" in shallow streams and ponds or puddles, and during hot periods may submerge in mud for days at a time. However, if placed in water that is too deep (completely submerged), they may drown.
Eastern box turtle | Distribution and habitat
Originally described in 1783 by Johann Gottlob Schneider as "Testudo picta", the painted turtle was called "Chrysemys picta" first by John Edward Gray in 1855. The four subspecies were then recognized: the eastern by Schneider in 1783, the western by Gray in 1831, and the midland and southern by Louis Agassiz in 1857. Until the 1930s many of the subspecies of the painted turtle were labeled by biologists as full species within "Chrysemys", but this varied by the researcher. The painted turtles in the border region between the western and midland subspecies were sometimes considered a full species, "treleasei". In 1931, Bishop and Schmidt defined the current "four in one" taxonomy of species and subspecies.
Painted turtle | Classification
Several states describe a practice of wanton shooting of turtles "for fun" (two studies of this have been done) and prohibit it, or prohibit even deliberate taking with firearms. Use of chemicals or explosives is also generally disallowed. Because other, less numerous, turtle species may be more heavily protected, methods of collection are restricted to allow the release of protected species.
Capture of painted turtles | Methods
The painted bunting occupies typical habitat for a member of its family. It is found in thickets, woodland edges with riparian thickets, shrubbery and brushy areas. In the east, the species breeds in maritime hammocks and scrub communities. Today, it is often found along roadsides and in suburban areas, and in gardens with dense, shrubby vegetation. The wintering habitat is typically the shrubby edges along the border of tropical forests or densely vegetated savanna. The breeding range is divided into two geographically separate areas. These include southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern and eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, northern Florida, coastal Georgia, the southern coast and inland waterways such as the Santee River of South Carolina and northern Mexico.
Painted bunting | Distribution and habitat
This area in particular has seen about 90 percent of its mountainous wetlands dry up. The turtles in this population are even more scattered than in the northern population and live at higher elevations, up to .
Bog turtle | Northern and southern populations
It is distributed in the rainforest of Brunei, Indonesia (Sumatra and Kalimantan), Malaysia, and Thailand.
Painted terrapin | Distribution
A cold-blooded reptile, the painted turtle regulates its temperature through its environment, notably by basking. All ages bask for warmth, often alongside other species of turtle. Sometimes more than 50 individuals are seen on one log together. Turtles bask on a variety of objects, often logs, but have even been seen basking on top of common loons that were covering eggs. The turtle starts its day at sunrise, emerging from the water to bask for several hours. Warmed for activity, it returns to the water to forage. After becoming chilled, the turtle re-emerges for one to two more cycles of basking and feeding.
Painted turtle | Daily routine and basking
Much has been written about the different factors that harm the painted turtle. Essentially all factors are unquantified and at most only some inferences of which factors are more relatively severe are described.
Conservation of painted turtles | Introduction
Preferentially found in caves and other mad-made subterranean habitats. The species show a preference for prey-rich areas of the cave, where the climatic stability is higher.
Troglohyphantes vignai | Habitat
"C. rossignonii" is found in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. The natural habitats of "C. rossignonii" are slow-moving freshwater rivers, swamps, tributaries, and wetlands. It prefers murky water with large amounts of vegetation, and stays away from open water.
Central American snapping turtle | Distribution and habitat
The painted tree-rat is found in the Atlantic forest. It also occurs in cocoa plantations where some native trees remain. As far as known, it is nocturnal.
Painted tree-rat | Habitat
"C. novaeguineae" inhabits small and large freshwater bodies of water, jungle rivers with ample vegetation.
New Guinea snake-necked turtle | Habitat
The three-striped roofed turtle is found in Bangladesh, India (Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal), and possibly in Nepal.
Three-striped roofed turtle | Geographic range