Spotted Turtle
A Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) bask in the sun on a log at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, River Neck, Columbia, North Carolina. Evaluated as Endangered by IUCN Red List. Conservation Status: vulnerable (S3) in North Carolina, US (NatureServe).
The Spotted turtle , the only extant species of ''Clemmys'', is a small, semi-aquatic turtle that reaches a carapace length of 8–12 cm upon adulthood. Their broad, smooth, low dark-colored upper shell, or carapace, ranges in its exact colour from black to a bluish black with a number of yellow tiny round spots. The spotting patterning extends from the head, to the neck and out onto the limbs. Males and females can be distinguished by differences in plastron shape and eye and chin colouration.
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