Yellow-Blotched Map Turtle

Range

Its range is limited to the Pascagoula River in Mississippi and its tributaries.

Habitats

They occur in large rivers with clay or sandy bottoms, an open canopy and basking sites. They are diurnal and spend the greater part of their day time basking. These excellent climbers are also opportunistic feeders. Their diet includes but not limited to mollusks, sponges, insects and insect larvae. They reach reproductive maturity around 6 to 9 years and lay 3 or 4 clutches of eggs in the sand and gravel banks of their riverine habitat. Each clutch contains 5 to 7 eggs.

Identification

This is a small to medium-sized map turtle. The carapace is brown to olive and slightly high domed and keeled. On the first couple of vertebral is spike-like projections which become less visible with age. On each pleural scute is a bright yellow or yellow to orange blotch, a key feature of the yellow-blotched map turtle. However, these blotches do not appear in a specific pattern for all graptemys flavimaculata. The base of the plastron is yellow to cream with dark patterning in varying degrees which fades with age. Its skin is dark olive to black with yellow stripes. The head is marked with bold stripes. The females are generally larger than the males which have a narrow head, longer and wider tails and a more elongated foreclaw.

Learn more with Schechter Natural History's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians