Identification of Turtles BY KAYTE SOUSA AND RACHEL FORTIER

Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)  An immature turtle (aged 15 to 20) produces 1 ring per year.  The growth rings and grooves known as “annuli” can give an accurate age reading within a couple years of its age.  The upper head is usually brown and the lower head is either yellow or orange.  The color of the turtle ranges from where it can be found but they are mostly the same colors.

Wood Turtle (continued)  Wood turtles can be found anywhere ranging from Canada to the United States.  The range goes from southern Nova Scotia, south to northern Virginia in the east. Then from southern Quebec and the Great Lakes region to eastern Minnesota and north-eastern Iowa in the West.  They are also semi-aquatic so they can be found along forested rivers and streams.  Wood turtles are omnivores so the eat anything from plants to animals both in and out of the water.

Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene Carolina)  Eastern Box Turtles are small to medium sized turtles and can be 8 inches long.  ** The bottom of their shell can be shut completely to exclude predators **  The Eastern Box Turtle ranges from Texas throughout the southeast and north to Michigan and southern Mass.  They also have a variety in shell shape, pattern and coloration.

Eastern Box Turtle (continued)  Eastern Box Turtles are animals so they can live anywhere from wooded swamps to dry, grassy fields.  Although they aren’t aquatic they will sometimes go into shallow water such as the edge of ponds or streams or even puddles.  Being omnivores, they will eat almost anything, animal or plant, that will fit in their mouth.

Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)  The spotted or “polka-dot” turtle has yellow spots on its head, neck, legs and upper shell. The “background” color is black.  Spotted Turtles can be found in many different habitats such as vernal pools, swamps, bogs, and marshes. They can also be found in small streams, wet meadows, and wet forests.  They also feed on small prey, some fruits, and filamentous algae.

Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta)  Eastern Painted Turtles can grow up to 9 inches long and have black, smooth, flattened shells.  It also has red markings all the way around its shell.  The top part of the turtle’s shells are known as carapace and the small plates are called scutes.  The bottom part of the turtles shell (plastron) is yellow.  Its legs, neck and tail have yellow and red stripes.

Eastern Painted Turtle (continued)  The eastern painted turtle can be found in marshes, lakes, ponds, rivers, and slow-moving streams.  They live water with a lot of plants and logs they can climb out on.  Eastern painted turtles eat plants like duckweed, algae and water lilies as well as earthworms, insects, leeches, snails, crayfish, frogs, fish, tadpoles and carrion (dead matter).

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)  The red-eared slider is a medium sized turtle that has a dark green oval shell.  Younger turtles have yellow in them.  They also have green legs with thin yellow stripes and a green head with a red strip behind the eye.

Red-eared Slider (continued)  They can be found in places such as ponds, lakes, swamps, creeks, streams, or slow-moving streams.  They like being able to leave the water easily so they can climb onto rocks or tree trunks.  Although being omnivores, their main source of food is a variety of different plants.

Northern Diamond-backed Terrapin (Malaclemys t. terrapin)  Diamond-backed Terrapins can have a gray, light-brown, or black shell.  They can also be patterned with concentric rings or ridges on their shell.  The under shell can be either yellowish or grayish-green.

Northern Diamond-backed Terrapin (continued)  They live in the brackish water of salt marshes, estuaries and tidal creeks.  They eat fish, marine snails, crabs, marine and tidal mollusks, carrion, clams and worms