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Testudines Pseudemys concinna -- River Cooter
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 Characteristics: Intricately patterned carapace; unpatterned or sparsely patterned plastron; no red head stripe; no dark smudges on plastral scutes.
Similar Species: Slider.
Subspecies: Two interpretations exist. In one, all Illinois populations are the eastern river cooter, P. c. concinna. In the other, Ohio River and Wabash River populations are hieroglyphic sliders, P. c. hieroglyphica, and Mississippi River populations are intergrades between P. c. hieroglyphica and Missouri slider, P. c. metteri.
Description: Large (up to 32 cm CL) turtle with striped head. Adult carapace olive to dark brown, patterned with yellow or orange lines or swirls, flared posteriorly, and without keel along the back. Male with elongate foreclaws and vent behind end of carapace.
Habitat: Backwaters and oxbow lakes of large rivers and reservoirs.
Natural History: Basks regularly, but wary and difficult to approach. Young are omnivorous, adults are chiefly herbivorous. Courting male swims with and above female, vibrating foreclaws in her face. Female digs nest in soil during late spring and lays up to 20 ellipsoidal eggs (ca. 35 x 25 mm), usually more than once annually. Hatchlings emerge August-September, or overwinter in nest.
Status: State endangered. Threats include pollution, drainage of backwaters, and flood control projects that isolate backwaters from rivers. Populations persist along lower Wabash and Ohio rivers (see distribution map, above).