Description: A dark, medium-sized turtle with a smooth and elongated carapace. 1 or 3 lengthwise keels may be present on the carapace. Size is from 3 1/8 to 6 1/2 inches in shell length. Mottled markings on the head, neck and limbs. Light markings on the head tend to form a pair of stripes on each side of the head. The feet are webbed, the tail is short, and there are barbels on the throat. Carapace color is olive to dark brown, with darkly-marked seams. The plastron is hinged and yellow to brown in color with darkly-marked seams. Males are smaller with a concave plastron and a longer thicker tail.
Habitat: Habitat includes streams, springs, ponds, and pools in intermittent streams, in areas of oak and pinyon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest, foothill grassland, or desert. In California, formerly found in the desert in overflow channels of the lower Colorado River. Normally occurs in ponds and slow moving tree lined watercourses, including quiet pools in streams, oxbows, ponds, creeks, and cattle tanks. Found in woodlands and occasionally in grasslands. Needs a permanent or nearly permanent water source.
Range: Historic range was southwestern New Mexico, southern Arizona, southeast California along the Colorado River, and Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. Now apparently extinct along the Colorado River.
Diet: Omnivorous, eating mostly animals including snails, fish, frogs, tadpoles, crustaceans, and other small invertebrates, along with some plant material.
Reproduction: Females lay a clutch of 1 to 11 eggs from May to September, which take almost a year to hatch. Sometimes as many as four clutches a year are laid. Females reach sexual maturity 6 years, males in 2 to 6 years.
Status: Endangered. This species appears to be declining over much of its range. The last known verifiable record along the Colorado River was from near Laguna Dam in 1962. The reasons for this turtles apparent extinction in California are uncertain, but most likely a combination of introduced aquatic predators such as bullfrogs and Louisiana red swamp crayfish, introduced vegetation, especially salt cedar, and widespread water and land alterations along the Colorado River including reservoirs, dams, and agriculture, is responsible.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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