''Kinosternon'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of small aquatic

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked ...

s from the Americas known commonly as mud turtles.

Geographic range

They are found in the United States,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and South America. The greatest

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative ab ...

is in Mexico, and only three species ('' K. dunni'', '' K. leucostomum'', and '' K. scorpioides'') are found in South America.

Description

They are very similar to the musk turtles, but generally smaller in size, and their

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the und ...

s are not as highly

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a ...

Diet

All mud turtles are

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other ...

, consuming various aquatic

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

, and even

carrion Carrion () is the decaying flesh of dead animals, including human flesh. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

Species

Extant

Central Chiapas mud turtle Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

- ''K. abaxillare'' (Baur, 1925) *

Tabasco mud turtle The Tabasco mud turtle (''Kinosternon acutum''), commonly known as pochitoque in Tabasco, Mexico, is a small turtle which belongs to the family Kinosternidae. It can be found in central Veracruz, Tabasco, northern Guatemala and Belize. This turt ...

- ''K. acutum''

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed ...

, 1831 *

Alamos mud turtle The Alamos mud turtle (''Kinosternon alamosae'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. It is endemic to Mexico, where it occurs in the states of Sinaloa and Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en ...

- ''K. alamosae''

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

& Legler, 1980 *

Central American mud turtle The Central American mud turtle (''Kinosternon angustipons''), also known as the narrow-bridged mud turtle, is a species of mud turtle in the Kinosternidae family endemic to Central America. It can be found in the following countries: Costa Ric ...

- ''K. angustipons'' Legler, 1965 *

Striped mud turtle The striped mud turtle (''Kinosternon baurii'') is a species of turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. Etymology The specific name, ''baurii'', is in honor of herpetologist Georg Baur.Beolens ...

- ''K. baurii'' ( Garman, 1891) *

Jalisco mud turtle The Jalisco mud turtle (''Kinosternon chimalhuaca'') is a species of mud turtle in the Kinosternidae family endemic to Mexico. It is found in Colima and Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Ja ...

- ''K. chimalhuaca'' Berry, Seidel, &

Iverson Iverson may refer to: Computing * Iverson Award, an ACM honour for APL contributions * Iverson bracket, a mathematical notation * Iverson Notation, the syntactic basis of APL (programming language) Other uses * Iverson Movie Ranch, Chatsworth, Cal ...

, 1996 *

Cora mud turtle The Cora mud turtle (''Kinosternon cora'') is a species of mud turtle endemic to western Mexico. Description The Cora mud turtle is a sister species of the Vallarta mud turtle (''Kinosternon vogti''), with which it shares most morphological char ...

- ''K. cora'' Loc-Barragán ''et al''., 2020 *

Creaser's mud turtle Creaser's mud turtle (''Kinosternon creaseri'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Geographic range ''K. creaseri'' is found in the Mexican state ...

- ''K. creaseri'' Hartweg, 1934 *

Dunn's mud turtle Dunn's mud turtle (''Kinosternon dunni''), also known commonly as the Colombian mud turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Kinosternidae. Etymology The epithet or specific name, ''dunni'', honors Emmett Reid Dunn, an American herpetolog ...

- ''K. dunni'' Schmidt, 1947 *

Durango mud turtle The Durango mud turtle (''Kinosternon durangoense'') is a species of mud turtle in the Kinosternidae family. It is endemic to north-eastern Mexico. It is found in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango Durango (), officially named E ...

- ''K. durangoense'' Iverson, 1979 *

Yellow mud turtle The yellow mud turtle (''Kinosternon flavescens''), also commonly known as the yellow-necked mud turtle, is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to the Central United States and Mexico. Distribution * ...

- ''K. flavescens'' (

Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he re ...

, 1857) *

Herrera's mud turtle Herrera's mud turtle (''Kinosternon herrerai'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to Mexico. Etymology The specific name, ''herrerai'', is in honor of Mexican biologist Alfonso Luis Herrera. L ...

- ''K. herrerai'' Stejneger, 1925 *

Rough-footed mud turtle The rough-footed mud turtle (''Kinosternon hirtipes'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Geographic range ''K. hirtipes'' is found in the Unite ...

- ''K. hirtipes'' ( Wagler, 1830) **Valley of Mexico mud turtle - ''K. h. hirtipes'' (Wagler, 1830) **Lake Chapala mud turtle - ''K. h. chapalaense'' Iverson, 1981 **San Juanico mud turtle - ''K. h. magdalense'' Iverson, 1981 **Viesca mud turtle - ''K. h. megacephalum'' Iverson, 1981 (extinct) **Mexican plateau mud turtle - ''K. h. murrayi'' Glass and Hartweg, 1951 **Patzcuarco mud turtle - ''K. h. tarascense'' Iverson, 1981 *

Mexican mud turtle The Mexican mud turtle (''Kinosternon integrum''),Liner, Ernest A. and Gustavo Casas-Andreu. 2008. ''Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico.'' Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpet ...

- ''K. integrum'' (LeConte, 1954) *

White-lipped mud turtle The white-lipped mud turtle (''Kinosternon leucostomum'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to Central America and northwestern South America. Geographic range ''Kinosternon leucostomum'' is fou ...

- ''K. leucostomum'' A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1851 **Northern white-lipped mud turtle - ''K. l. leucostomum'' A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1851 **Southern white-lipped mud turtle - ''K. l. postinguinale'' (Cope, 1887) * Oaxaca mud turtle - ''K. oaxacae'' Berry & Iverson, 1980 *

Scorpion mud turtle The scorpion mud turtle or Tabasco mud turtle (''Kinosternon scorpioides'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. It is found in Mexico, Central and South America. It is a medium to large kinosternid (mud turtle) with a domed, ...

- ''K. scorpioides'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

, 1766) **Scorpion mud turtle (subspecies) - ''K. s. scorpioides'' (Linnaeus, 1766) **White-throated mud turtle - ''K. s. albogulare'' (A.H.A. Duméril and Bocourt, 1870) **Red-cheeked mud turtle - ''K. s. cruentatum'' (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1851) *

Sonora mud turtle The Sonora mud turtle (''Kinosternon sonoriense''), also known as the Sonoyta mud turtle, is a species of turtle in the Kinosternidae family. It is found in Mexico and the United States. The Sonoran mud turtle species is heavily influenced by i ...

- ''K. sonoriense'' ( Le Conte, 1854) **Sonora mud turtle (subspecies) - ''K. s. sonoriense'' (Le Conte, 1854) **Sonoyta mud turtle - ''K. s. longifemorale'' (Iverson, 1981) * Florida mud turtle - ''K. steindachneri'' ( Siebenrock, 1906) *

Arizona mud turtle The Arizona mud turtle (''Kinosternon stejnegeri'') is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae found in the deserts of Arizona (United States) and Sonora (Mexico). It is a semi-aquatic turtle. It lives in impermanent puddles, and avo ...

- ''K.'' ''stejnegeri'' Gilmore, 1923'''' *

Eastern mud turtle The eastern mud turtle (''Kinosternon subrubrum'') or common mud turtle is a common species of turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to the United States. There are two recognized subspecies. Description The eastern mud turt ...

- ''K. subrubrum'' (

Bonnaterre Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (1752, Aveyron – 20 September 1804, Saint-Geniez-d'Olt) was a French zoologist who contributed sections on cetaceans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic ...

, 1789) **Eastern mud turtle (subspecies) - ''K. s. subrubrum'' (Bonnaterre, 1789) **Mississippi mud turtle - ''K. s. hippocrepis'' (Bonnaterre, 1789) * Vallarta mud turtle - ''K. vogti'' López-Luna ''et al''., 2018

Extinct

†'' Kinosternon arizonense'' Gilmore, 1923 (known from

Plio-Pleistocene The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5& ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains, formerly considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with ''K. stejnegeri'')'''' File:Kinosternon acutum.jpg, Tabasco mud turtle (''Kinosternon acutum'') 6 March 2018. File:Kinosternon arizonense.jpg, Arizona mud turtle (''Kinosternon arizonense''), 25 October 2018. File:Creaser's Mud Turtle (Kinosternon creaseri).jpg, Creaser's mud turtle (''Kinosternon creaseri''), juvenile from Yucatán, México. File:Kinosternon integrum, Mexican Mud Turtle, Tamaulipas.jpg, Mexican mud turtle (''Kinosternon integrum''), a sub-adult from the Municipality of Tula, Tamaulipas, Mexico (20 September 2003). File:Kinosternon oaxacae.jpeg, Oaxaca mud turtle (''Kinosternon oaxacae'') La Soledad, Oaxaca, Mexico. File:Kinosternon scorpioides Scorpion Mud Turtle, Tamaulipas.jpg, Scorpion mud turtle (''Kinosternon scorpioides''), southern Tamaulipas, Mexico (23 September 2004). File:Kinosternon sonoriense1.jpg, Sonoran mud turtle (''Kinosternon sonoriense''), male. File:Kinosternon subrubrum UMFS 2014 1.JPG, Eastern mud turtle (''Kinosternon subrubrum'') plastron.

References

;Bibliography * {{Taxonbar , from=Q2500468 Turtle genera Taxa named by Johann Baptist von Spix