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Arizona Mud Turtle (Kinosternon arizonense)

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2174″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]Arizona Mud Turtle, Vekol Valley, Maricopa Co., AZ. Photo by Randy Babb[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2219″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Arizona Mud Turtle. Photo by Roger Repp[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2220″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Arizona Mud Turtle, Vekol Valley, Maricopa Co., AZ. Photo by Randy Babb[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][gap size=”30px” id=”” class=”” style=””][vc_column_text]

Description

The Arizona Mud Turtle is a moderate-sized (< 181 mm carapace length) aquatic turtle with a domed brown or olive-brown carapace lacking keels.  The plastron is hinged front and back, and yellow to streaked brown with dark seems.  The digits on the front and hind feet are webbed.  The head and neck are olive-gray or yellowish and lack distinct stripes and reticulations.  The ninth and tenth marginal scutes are elevated above the eighth, and the first vertebral scute is not in contact with the first marginal scute.  In the very similar Yellow Mud Turtle, the first vertebral scute is in contact with the first marginal scute.  The two species are also disjunct geographically.  The Yellow Mud Turtle occurs in eastern Cochise County, southern Graham County, and points east, while the Arizona Mud Turtle is found in south-central Pima County and south in western Sonora to about 32 km north of Guaymas.  The Sonora Mud Turtle possesses distinctive light and dark reticulations on the head and neck, and the tenth marginal scute is elevated above the eighth and ninth marginals.

In the 100-Mile Circle, the Arizona Mud Turtle is found primarily in the Río Sonoyta drainage of the Tohono O’odham Nation, but also in the Vekol Valley, and southern Altar Valley, as well as other points to the south in Sonora in the Río Magdalena drainage.  Most localities are in Sonoran desertscrub, but the southern Altar Valley is best classified as semi-desert grassland heavily encroached with mesquite, cacti, and other species of the Sonoran Desert.  Throughout its distribution, localities range in elevation from about 200-800 m.  Specific localities are typically ephemeral cattle tanks, arroyos, and stream segments that fill with the summer rains.  Collections and observations in Arizona span the period of 1 July through mid-October, but most are from July and early August.  During drought when ponds are dry, the Arizona Mud Turtle can purportedly remain dormant underground for up to two years.

Arizona Mud Turtles are diurnal and often observed basking on the edge of ponds, even when temperatures are quite high.  Females deposit 2-3 clutches of 3-7 eggs in July and early August, which hatch at the beginning of the next summer rainy season.  Hatchlings are 25-28 mm carapace length.  Nesting habits and sites of the Arizona Mud Turtle are unknown, but females likely bury their eggs near the ponds in which they live.  Males grow to a larger size than females and possess concave plastra and relatively long, thick, and spine-tipped tails.  The diet likely includes a variety of aquatic invertebrates, frogs and toads, and their larvae.

The IUCN Red List includes the Arizona Mud Turtle as a species of least concern.  It is likely eliminated where desert scrub has been replaced by agriculture or other type-converting uses, but construction of livestock tanks, charcos, and other disturbances that intentionally or unintentionally collect rain water has benefited this species.  This turtle was long known as a subspecies (K. flavescens arizonense) of the Yellow Mud Turtle.

Suggested Reading:

Brennan, T.C., and A.T. Holycross. 2006. Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ.

Ernst, C.H., and J.E. Lovich. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada (second edition). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Iverson, J.B. 1989. The Arizona Mud Turtle, Kinosternon flavescens arizonense (Kinosternidae), in Arizona and Sonora.  The Southwestern Naturalist 34(3):356-368.

Iverson, J.B. 1985. Status of the Arizona Mud Turtle Kinosternon flavescens arizonense in Arizona and Sonora. Report to the Office of Endangered Species, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, NM.

Author: Jim Rorabaugh

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