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Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon flavescens)

[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2176″ img_size=”large” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]Yellow Mud Turtle (captive). Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Description

The Yellow Mud Turtle is a moderate-sized (< 165 mm carapace length) aquatic turtle characterized by a domed olive carapace with dark seams and ninth and tenth marginal scutes that are elevated above the eighth.  The plastron is yellow to brownish with hinges in the front and back.  The skin is gray or gray-olive, usually with yellow or cream on the chin and lower jaw.  The head and neck of older individuals may be mottled, but never with dark and light reticulations (as in the Sonora Mud Turtle).  Males grow to a larger size and possess somewhat concave plastra and a longer, thicker tail that is tipped with a spine.  See the species account for the Arizona Mud Turtle regarding characters that distinguish that species from the Yellow Mud Turtle.

In the 100-Mile Circle, the Yellow Mud Turtle occurs only in the southern Sulphur Springs Valley (south of Elfrida), Cochise County, and in the Whitlock and San Simon River valleys, northeastern Cochise County and southeastern Graham County, at elevations of about 915-1,220 m.  It occurs in ephemeral valley bottom pools, stream reaches, and cattle tanks in semi-desert grassland and Chihuahuan desertscrub.  Ephemeral waters are preferred over permanent ponds and streams, and habitats often have muddy or sandy substrates and relatively shallow water.  Upland soils suitable for digging are important, because this turtle spends much of the year inactive, underground.  In drought periods, Yellow Mud Turtles can remain underground for periods of up to 24 months.  In New Mexico, this species is active from about 15 April to 15 October, but in Arizona it is most often encountered during the summer monsoon season. The Yellow Mud Turtle is primarily diurnal, and it makes occasional overland forays between ponds.  Reproduction has not been studied in Arizona, but based on work elsewhere, clutches of 1-10 eggs are laid in May or June in nests dug in upland sandy soils 21-191 m from water.  Two clutches may be produced in favorable years.  Incubation lasts 94-118 days, but hatchlings spend the fall and winter in the nest and emerge the following year.  Whether this pattern is true in Arizona is unknown.  Hatchlings are 18-30 mm carapace length. Females have been documented to stay with the nest, perhaps until the hatchlings emerge, representing a form of parental care that may help protect the eggs and young from predation.  Yellow Mud Turtles feed upon a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates, live or dead, but also take some plant material.  They typically feed in water, but during mornings and late afternoons, they may make forays onto land in search of prey.  They may also feed on animals that venture into their burrows during dormancy.

The Yellow Mud Turtle is listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN’s Red List.  It is vulnerable to loss of its aquatic habitats and upland burrowing areas, but has likely benefited from construction of ephemeral cattle tanks.  The population in the southern Sulphur Springs Valley reportedly was declining as of the mid-1990s.

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.

Christiansen, J.L., and J.B. Iverson. 1993. Kinosternon flavescens (Agassiz, 1857).  Pages 1-4 in P.C.H. Pritchard and A.G.J. Rhodin (editors), The Conservation of Freshwater Turtles. IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Acct. No. 10.

Rosen, P.C., S.S. Sartorius, C.R. Schwalbe, P.A. Holm, and C.H. Lowe.  1998.  Annotated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the Sulphur Springs Valley, Cochise County, Arizona. Pages 65-80 in B. Tellman, D. M. Finch, C. Edminster, and R. Hamre (editors), The Future of Arid Grasslands, Symposium Proceedings RMRS-P-3. USDA Forest Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Author: Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][gap size=”30px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]