SREL Reprint #2988

Kinosternon subrubrum - Eastern Mud Turtle

Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.1 and J. Whitfield Gibbons2

1State Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120-0024
2Savannah River Ecology Lab, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802

Summary: The eastern mud turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum, is one of two species of mud turtle found in Florida. Unlike the striped mud turtle (K. baurii), the eastern mud turtle shows significant geographic variation in morphology, with three subspecies know, all occurring in Florida (K. s. subrubrum, K. s. steindachneri, and K. s. hippocrepis). One of these, K. s. steindachneri, is endemic to the Florida peninsula and differs significantly from the other subspecies in morphology, genetics, and possibly reproductive biology. This aquatic subspecies is found in lentic or slow-moving systems, with a preference for well-vegetated, sandy-bottomed littoral zones. It is active night or day, with a possible reduction in activity during the summer. Its reduced plastron may be in response to a more extensive aquatic existence. Males of this form are larger in body size than females. In northern Florida, the reproductive season of K. subrubrum is longer and the clutch sizes are smaller than in more northerly populations. In central Florida, K. s. steindachneri is sensitive to certain kinds of habitat modifications. Habitat destruction and modification, such as roads adjacent to canals and ditches, negatively impact what is otherwise an uncommon and ecologically poorly-studied Florida endemic subspecies.

SREL Reprint #2988

Meshaka, W. E., Jr. and J. W. Gibbons. 2006. Kinosternon subrubrum - Eastern Mud Turtle. Chelonian Research Monographs 3:189-196.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).