Mud Turtle - Description and Taxonomy

Description and Taxonomy

Mud turtles are known for their dull shell colors and relation to the smelly musk turtles. African and American mud turtles are very different and are not closely related. Their only similarities are in their choice of habitat, both preferring shallow, slow moving bodies of water with muddy bottoms, and having a dome shaped carapace. They can grow up to about 5-inches, and can live up to 50 years of age.

The length of a hatchling's carapace generally ranges from .6 inches to 1 inch when first born. The hatchlings are generally black on top and red, yellow, or orange mixed with black on the plastron underneath. The hatchlings generally have a larger head and a more round, deep and differently patterned shell. On average, an adult eastern mud turtle grows to be about 3-5 inches long. An adult eastern mud turtle has a light brown or olive to black colored carapace and light brown to yellow or orange colored plastron. The skin of the turtle is usually light brown to olive. The head can sometimes be darker than the rest of the turtle’s body and generally has broken yellow markings on each side.

The taxonomic classification of the eastern mud turtle begins with the kingdom Animalia. The phylum is that of Chordata, which includes vertebrates. The class is Reptilia, which includes the orders Crocodilia, Sphenodontia, Squamata, and Testudine. The order Crocodilia includes animals such as alligators and crocodiles, Sphenodontia includes tuataras, Squamata includes snakes and lizards, and Testudine includes tortoises and turtles. The family of the eastern mud turtle is Kinosternindae, which includes the musk and mud turtles. The genus is Kinosternon, which includes all of the different species of mud turtles. Which leads to the scientific name of K. subrubrum.