Common Name
yellow mud turtle

Iowa Range
southeastern Iowa along the Mississippi River

Habitat
slow moving freshwater with sand or mud bottoms

Description
The yellow mud turtle has a carapace which is olive to brown, smooth, keelless, and usually flattened. The scutes on the carapace are darkly bordered. The plastron, or lower shell, is yellow to brown and double hinged. The pectoral scutes are pointed and only narrowly in contact. The jaw and throat are white or yellow and often spotted.