Testudines Graptemys geographica -- Map 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: Small, isolated, somewhat triangular spot or mark behind eye; carapace with sawtooth rear margin and low midback keel; vertebral knobs or spines distinct in juveniles, small in adult males, usually lost in old females.
Similar Species: False map turtle, Ouachita map turtle.
Description: Medium-sized (up to 24 cm CL) turtle. Carapace olive brown with network of yellow lines (resembling a road map); some lines encircle dark brown smudges. Vertebral knobs and keel dark brown. Plastron pale yellow with dark pigment bordering scute seams. Female larger than male and with broader head. Male with elongate foreclaws and cloacal opening behind end of carapace.
Habitat: Slow-moving stretches and backwaters of rivers as well as large lakes.
Natural History: Basks and dives into water at the slightest disturbance. Eats snails, clams, crayfish, and insects, which it crushes with broad surfaces of jaws. Female lays 2-3 clutches of about 12 ellipsoidal, leathery-shelled eggs (ca. 35 x 22 mm) between late May and early July and buries them in soft soil or sand.
Status: Locks and dams and dredging of upper Mississippi River have created excellent habitat pools dotted with sand bars. Most abundant in northern half of state.