Diagnosis
The eastern mud turtle is generally easy to tell apart from other species of turtles mainly because of its small size. A mud turtle has the ability to close its entire body into the shell due to a double-hinged plastron that has 11 scutes The eastern mud turtle can often be confused with some species of musk turtles, but the main way to the tell the difference is that the 9th marginal scute is not enlarged and that the plastron of a musk turtle has a single hinge. The carapace on a mud turtle is smooth, oval-shaped and does not contain a keel. When trying to identify a male mud turtle from a female mud turtle the main difference is that the males generally have a smaller body but a longer tail. The male's longer tail helps him to mount a female during the mating ritual!
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