Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

An adult Eastern Mud Turtle from Faulkner County, Arkansas (iNat: 112895586). Image by iNat user (hr_dragonfly).
An adult Eastern Mud Turtle from Denton County, Texas (iNat: 129167739). Image by iNat user Ashwin Narayanan (ashwinvn2).
An adult Eastern Mud Turtle from Tulsa County, Arkansas (iNat: 128532195). Image by iNat user (osablanca).
An adult Eastern Mud Turtle from Denton County, Texas (iNat: 129167739). Image by iNat user Ashwin Narayanan (ashwinvn2).
REPTILIA (Reptiles) TESTUDINES (Turtles) KINOSTERNIDAE (Mud and Musk Turtles)

Eastern Mud Turtle
Kinosternon subrubrum (Lacepede 1788)
kī-nō-stĭr-nŏn — sŭb-rū-brŭm

Conservation Status:
State: None
Federal: None
NatureServe State: SNA - Not Applicable
NatureServe National: N5 - Secure
NatureServe Global: G5 - Secure
CITES: None
Diagnosis:
 The Eastern Mud Turtle is relatively small with a carapacelength of 70-125 mm (2.75-4.92 in). Unlike the Eastern Musk Turtle, the plastron is relatively large and has two movable hinges rather than one. The domed, smooth carapace may be brown, olive, yellowish, or black; in juveniles the carapace can have three longitudinal keels. The carapace of adults is often covered with algae. The head and neck are brown with lighter colored stripes and/or mottling.
Distribution:
 This species is known from multiple records in Craig County, Oklahoma, within 14 miles of the Kansas border.
Anderson (1942) reported on several specimens from near Lake City, Jackson County, Missouri, 30.3 km (18.8 mi) east of the Johnson County, Kansas state line.
(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record) (,   iNat Record), (  Fossil)
Open icons are questionable records; Click on a marker to view details.
Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)
  • Occurrence Summary:  
  • 2
    Records 
  • 2
    Museum Vouchers 
  • 0
    Other Observations 
Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
 County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
 Seward (1); Unknown (1);

Fossil History:
 Recorded from the Saw Rock Canyon (Lower) local fauna of Seward County (Fichter, 1969).
Natural History:
 The Eastern Mud Turtle inhabits quiet, vegetated, shallow waters with soft substrates. They do not bask often, but not uncommonly found wandering far from water. They are omnivorous but feeds principally upon insects, mollusks, crustaceans, amphibians, carrion, and occasionally fish. While most foraging is aquatic, they will feed on land. Females annually lay 1-3 clutches, consisting of 1-6 hard-shelled eggs, in well-drained soil often under some sort of cover.
Occurrence Activity:
 Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 0; Range: 01 Jan to 01 Jan
Remarks:
 Smith (1956) included this turtle on his list of "possibly occurring" species, but Collins (1974, 1982) did not. However, this turtle has been documented from Craig County, Oklahoma, about 14 miles south of the Kansas border, lending credence to its possible occurrence in the state. It should be looked for in backwater areas of southwest Cherokee, and southern Labette, Montgomery, and Chautauqua counties.
Bibliography:
1789 Bonnaterre, Pierre J. Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature. Erpétologie. [Encyclopedic and methodical table of the three kingdoms of nature. Herpetology.] Chez Panckoucke, Hotel de Thou, rue des Poitevins. 71pp.
Contains the original description of Testudo subrubra (=Kinosternon subrubrum) page 27. In French.
1857 Agassiz, Louis. Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Volume 1. Little, Brown & Company, Boston, Massachusets. 452pp.
Original description of Cistudo triunguis p. 445.
Discusses the regional faunas and includes Kansas in the "Western Fauna" pp. 450-451, with such characteristic species as Apalone mutica, Apalone spinifera, Chelydra serpentina, Chrysemys picta, Graptemys geographica, Graptemys pseudogeographica, Kinosternon subrubrum, Pseudemys concinna, Sternotherus odoratus, and Trachemys scripta, though none are listed as definitively occurring in Kansas.
1916 Householder, Victor H. The Lizards and Turtles of Kansas with Notes on Their Distribution and Habitat. Thesis. University of Kansas, Lawrence. 100pp.
1928 Ortenburger, Arthur I. The whip snakes and racers: Genera Masticophis and Coluber. Memiors of the University of Michigan Museum (1):1-247
1936 Hurd, Myron Alec. The reptiles of Cherokee County, Kansas. Thesis. Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas. 103pp.
Under the supervision of thesis adviser Harry H. Hall. Report on 38 species (8 turtles, 7 lizards, and 23 snakes)... most unsubstantiated. Interesting inclusion are Crotalus horridus, Crotalus viridis, Kinosternon subrubrum, Opheodrys vernalis, and Phrynosoma cornutum.
1942 Anderson, Paul. Amphibians and reptiles of Jackson County, Missouri. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 6(11):203-222
1956 Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. Second edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication (9):1-356
Hobart M. Smith's updated second edition of his first (1950) modern herpetology of Kansas. Includes locality dot maps within individual species accounts. Reports 96 species from Kansas (table says 97 on p. 10; text says 98 on p. 10) and 11 "probable but unverified" species and subspecies. The second edition has updated taxonomy, added Plestiodon laticeps, and removed Eurycea tynerensis.
1969 Fichter, Lynn S. Geographical distribution and osteological variation in fossil and recent specimens of two species of Kinosternon (Testudines). Journal of Herpetology 3(3-4):113-119
1974 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (1):283 pp
Joseph T. Collins first Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Smith 1956)>
1977 Iverson, John B. Kinosternon subrubrum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (193):1-4
1978 Conant, Roger and James F. Berry. Turtles of the family Kinosternidae in the Southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico: Identification and distribution. American Museum Novitates (2642):1-18
1982 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. 2nd edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (8):
Joseph T. Collins second Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1974)>
1984 Secor, Stephen M. and Charles C. Carpenter. Distribution maps of Oklahoma reptiles. Oklahoma Herpetological Society Special Publication (3):1-57
1988 Iverson, John B. Neural bone patterns and the phylogeny of the turtles of the subfamily Kinosterninae. Contributions in Biology and Geology (75):13
1991 Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1993 Collins, Joseph T. and Suzanne L. Collins. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. Third Edition. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Lawrence. 397pp.
Joseph T. Collins third Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1982)>
1997 Starkey, David E. Molecular systematics and biogeography of the New World turtle genera Trachemys and Kinosternon. Dissertation. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas.. 149pp.
1998 Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed, expanded. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1998 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians & Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 131pp.
2002 Kingsbury, Bruce and Joanna Gibson. Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Midwest. Publication of Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Address not given. 152pp.
2006 Taggart, Travis W. Distribution and status of Kansas herpetofauna in need of information. State Wildlife Grant T7. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Pratt. vii + 106pp.
2010 Collins, Joseph T., Suzanne L. Collins, and Travis W. Taggart. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Turtles of Kansas Eagle Mountain Publishing., Provo, Utah. 400pp.
Joseph T. Collins fourth Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1993)>
2011 Taggart, Travis W. Kansas Herpetological Society 2011 spring field trip to be held in Chautauqua County. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (37):5-7
2012 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada: Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 152pp.
2013 Taggart, Travis W. KHS 2012 Summer Field Trip to Meade County State Park. Collinsorum 2(3/4):3
2013 Iverson, John B., Minh Le, and Colleen Ingram. Molecular phylogenetics of the mud and musk turtle family Kinosternidae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69():929-939
2016 Lozar, Robert C. and James D. Westervelt. Application of Maxent Multivariate Analysis to Define Reptile Species Distributions and Changes Related to Climate Change. US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Champaign, Illinois.. 100pp.
2016 Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. 494pp.
2016 Joyce, Walter G. and Jason R. Bourque. A review of the fossil record of turtles of the Clade Pan-Kinosternoidea. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 57(1):57–95
2017 Crother, Brian I. (editor) Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102
2019 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192pp.
2021 Rhodin, Anders G. J., John B. Iverson, Roger Bour, Uwe Fritz, Arthur Georges, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Peter Paul van Dijk. Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: First checklist and review of extinct pleistocene and holocene chelonians. Chelonian Research Monographs (8):1-472
2021 Thomson, Robert C., Phillip Q. Spinks, and H. Bradley Shaffer. A global phylogeny of turtles reveals a burst of climate-associated diversification on continental margins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 118(7):1-10
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Travis W. Taggart © 1999-2025 — w/ Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University