Testudines Clemmys guttata -- Spotted Turtle
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Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan)
shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified
sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only
NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.
Key Characters: Unhinged plastron; low, smooth-margined, black carapace usually with one to several yellow spots per scute.
Similar Species: Juvenile Blanding's turtle.
Description: Small (up to 12 cm CL) distinctive turtle with a plastral pattern of dark blotches on light background that becomes darker with age. Head spotted or uniformly dark. Limbs dark above, yellow to orange below. Male usually with tan chin, brown eyes, and slightly concave plastron. Female with yellow chin, orange eyes, and flat plastron.
Habitat: Shallow wetlands including sedge meadows adjoining cattail marshes, and wet dolomite prairies.
Natural History: Cryptic, most noticeable when basking on muskrat lodges or clumps of sedge or cattails. Semiaquatic, moves moderate distances overland between wet areas. Diet includes crayfish, aquatic isopods, and insects. Three to five ellipsoidal eggs (ca. 31 x 18 mm) are laid in one clutch from May to July.
Status: State endangered. Historically known only from northeastern counties. Presently, extant populations only in Will County.