 Range in California: Green
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies.
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Juvenile from the area of intergradation, Fresno County © Patrick Briggs |
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Basking adults, San Mateo County |
Adult, crossing a trail, San Mateo County |
Basking adult, San Mateo County |
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Habitat, San Luis Obispo County |
Habitat, Afton Canyon, San Bernardino County. According to Stebbins (2003) the turtles in this desert population may be a distinct taxon. |
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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 either poorly-defined triangular inguinal scutes on the bridge, or none at all. The throat and neck are uniformly light in color. Animals south of the Transverse Ranges tend to be lighter, from yellowish brown to light brown.
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 all year, especially in the south. Hibernates underwater, often in the muddy bottom of a pool. Estivates during summer droughts by burying itself in soft bottom mud. In some areas it inhabits streams that dry out most years where it moves onto land to hibernate under dense brush or wood rat nests. (Lemm 2006).
When seeking or protecting a 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. Hatchlings eat aquatic zooplankton. |
| Reproduction |
| Mates in April and May. Adults do not mate until they are aproximately eight to ten years old. 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 but most are thought to lay eggs every other year. Hatchlings emerge in early fall or overwinter in the nest. |
| Range |
| From the San Francisco Bay south, along the coast ranges into northern Baja California (where it has disappeared throughout most of its range.) Isolated populations occur along the Mojave River at Camp Cody and Afton Canyon. 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)
The Afton Canyon population may be a distinct taxon. (Stebbins 2003)
This species may actually consist of up to four species according to recent research. |
| 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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pallida |
Southern Pacific Pond Turtle |
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Original Description |
Clemmys marmorata - (Baird and Girard, 1852) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 177
Clemmys marmorata pallida - Seeliger, 1945 - Copeia, p. 158, figs. 4 and 5
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
pallida -
Latin - pale - refers to the light background color of sides and ventral surface of neck
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Southwestern Pond Turtle
Emys marmorata
Formerly called Clemmys marmorata pallida
Formerly called Emmys marmorata pallida
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Related or Similar California Turtles |
A. m. marmorata - Northern 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.
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.
Lemm, Jeffrey. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (California Natural History Guides). University of California Press, 2006.
Watch short movies of this turtle at Endangered Species International (www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org)
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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 |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
BLM:S |
Sensitive |
| USDA Forest Service |
USFS:S |
Sensitive |
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4 |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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IUCN:VU |
Vulnerable |
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Range in California: Green
