 Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult, Mendocino county |
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Adult, Contra Costa County |
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Adult, Mendocino county |
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Tiny juvenile, Mendocino county |
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| Juvenile from the area of intergradation, Kings County © Patrick Briggs |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, river, Mendocino County |
Habitat, large pond, Marin County |
Habitat, forest creek, Mendocino County |
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Habitat, large lake, Sacramento County |
Habitat, small creek, Alameda County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Watch short movies of this turtle at Endangered Species International (www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org)
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Short Video |
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Pond turtles basking in the sun. |
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| Description |
| Size |
| 3.5 - 8.5 inches in shell length (8.9 - 21.6 cm). (Stebbins 2003) Hatchlings are aproximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) in shell length. The tail of a young turtle is almost as long as its shell. |
| Appearance |
A small to medium-sized drab dark brown, olive brown, or blackish turtle with a low unkeeled carapace and usually with a pattern of lines or spots radiating from the centers of the scutes. The plastron lacks hinges, and has 6 pairs of shelds which can be cream or yellowish in color with large dark brown markings, or unmarked. The legs have black speckling and may show cream to yellowish coloring. The head usually has a black network or spots may show cream to yellowish coloring.
This subspecies has a well-developed pair of triangular inguinal scutes on the bridge, and dull neck markings.
Males usually have a light throat with no markings, a low-domed carapace, and a concave plastron.
Females usually have a throat with dark markings, a high-domed carapace, and a flat or convex plastron which tends to be more heavily patterned than the male's. |
| Behavior & Natural History |
Diurnal. Thoroughly aquatic. This turtle is often seen basking above the water, but will quickly slide into the water when it feels threatened. Seldom basks by floating at the surface. Active from around February to November. May be active during warm periods in winter. Hibernates underwater, often in the muddy bottom of a pool. Estivates during summer droughts by burying itself in soft bottom mud.
When seeking or protecting a basking spot, turtles may show aggressive behavior by opening the mouth and exposing the yellow and pinkish mouth lining to scare off another turtle. Occasionally they will also bite or ram. |
| Diet |
| Eats aquatic plants, invertebrates, worms, frog and salamander eggs and larvae, crayfish, carrion, and occasionally frogs and fish. |
| Reproduction |
| Sometime between April and August, females climb onto land to dig a nest, usually along stream or pond margins, where they lay a clutch of 2 - 11 eggs. Some females lay two clutches in a year while others lay eggs every other year. |
| Range |
| Found from the San Francisco Bay north, west of the crest of the Cascades and Sierras, into Washington and British Columbia. (It may now be extinct in western Washington and British Columbia.) An isolated population occurs at Susanville. Another isolated population occurs in Nevada in the Truckee, Carson, and East Walker Rivers. From sea level to over 5,900 ft (1,800 m) in elevation. |
| Habitat |
| Found in ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, marshes, and irrigation ditches, with abundant vegetation, and either rocky or muddy bottoms, in woodland, forest, and grassland. In streams, prefers pools to shallower areas. Logs, rocks, cattail mats, and exposed banks are required for basking. May enter brackish water and even seawater. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Formerly this species was called Clemmys marmorata.
Two subspecies are traditionally recognized: A. m. pallida, and A. m. marmorata, but the characteristics used to define the two subspeces are ambiguous and poorly-defined and a large area of intergradation occurs in the central part of the state.
Spinks and Shaffer argued that these subspecies should be abandoned because they are not supported on molecular grounds. They also showed that the current species may actually consist of up to four species, though they did not name any. (Spinks and Shaffer - 2005 Mol. Ecol. 14:2047-2064) |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
In decline in most of its range (from 75 - 80 % according to Stebbins, 2003)
Once very abundant in the southern San Joaquin Valley, with population estimates of over 3 1/3 million. Now almost extinct there. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Emydidae |
Box and Water or Pond Turtles |
| Genus |
Actinemys |
Pacific Pond Turtles |
| Species |
marmorata |
Pacific Pond Turtle |
Subspecies
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marmorata |
Northern Pacific Pond Turtle |
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Original Description |
Clemmys marmorata - (Baird and Girard, 1852) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 177
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Actinemys - actin - ray or beam, and -emys - turtle.
marmorata - Latin - marbled - refers to the marbled carapacial pattern
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Northwestern Pond Turtle
Emys marmorata
Formerly called Clemmys marmorata marmorata
Formerly called Emys marmorata marmorata
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Related or Similar California Turtles |
A. m. pallida - Southern Pacific Pond Turtle
C. p. bellii - Western Painted Turtle
T. s. elegans - Red-eared Slider
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
SDNHM
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Carr, Archie. Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California. Cornell University Press, 1969.
Ernst, Carl H., Roger W. Barbour, & Jeffrey E. Lovich. Turtles of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution 1994.
St. John, Alan D. Reptiles of the Northwest: Alaska to California; Rockies to the Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, 2002.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
SSC |
Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
USFS:S |
Sensitive |
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G3G4T3 S3 |
Vulnerable |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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IUCN:VU |
Vulnerable |
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Range in California: Red
