Bog Turtles

• Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata guttata)
• Bog Turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii)

Other Images of Spotted Turtles

• carapace and plastron

Spotted Turtles and Bog Turtles are at home in bogs, swamps, and other shallow water. Spotted Turtles, as their name implies, are usually covered with many small yellow or reddish spots against a black background on the topshell (carapace) and skin. The 3 to 5 inch topshell is smooth and shiny. Bog Turtles are smaller (3 to 4 inches) with rough, dark brown to black topshells. Bog Turtles have orange to yellow head patches, often separated into two parts.

Spotted Turtles are potentially found throughout the coastal plain of South Carolina. Spotted Turtles generally range from coastal plain area of northern Florida to New Hampshire and west to Indiana and Michigan. Bog Turtles have a very limited range in the high foothills of South Carolina. The South Carolina population is part of a range from extreme northeastern Georgia along the Tennesee/North Carolina border and into small portions of Virginia. Other populations exist in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Bog Turtles populations have suffered greatly from loss of habitat.

updated: January 23, 2006
Contact: South Carolina Reptiles and Amphibians