2025 MURAL SPECIES!
spotted turtle
Ojibwe: Mshiikenh
Latin: Clemmys guttata
STATUS:
US STATUS: LT - Listed Threatened
MI STATUS: T - Threatened (Legally Protected)
ARTIST:
THUMỸ PHAN
Thumỹ is a Vietnamese born illustrator, artist, muralist and designer currently based in Oklahoma City. She strives to tell stories with her work and bring these stories to life with bold colors and whimsical details.
Find more of Thumỹ’s work here!
EDUCATOR:
YU MAN LEE
Yu Man Lee is a Conservation Scientist and Herpetologist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI), which is Michigan’s Natural Heritage Program and part of Michigan State University Extension. She conducts inventory, monitoring, and research to assess the status, distribution, and ecology of rare, threatened, and endangered amphibian and reptile species and their habitats and other imperiled species and natural communities to inform their management and conservation in Michigan. She also conducts education and outreach to raise awareness and engage diverse audiences in biodiversity conservation.
Visit our Spotted Turtle mural in downtown Grand Rapids at 56 Front Avenue NW!
Description:
The Spotted Turtle is a small turtle with adult carapace (i.e., top shell) lengths ranging from 3.5 to 5.4 inches. This turtle can be easily identified by the small, round yellow spots on its broad, smooth, black or brownish black carapace, although spots may fade in older individuals and some individuals are spotless. The plastron (i.e., bottom shell) is hingeless and is usually yellow or orange with a black blotch along the outer margin of each scute or scale. Hatchlings average about 1.14 inches in carapace length and usually have a single spot on each plate of their carapace. Their plastrons are yellowish orange with a central dark blotch.
Habitat and Occurrence
If you’re looking to find a Spotted Turtle for yourself, check within the following ecosystems within the green counties on the map!
All information on this page is generously provided by the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI). For more information about Spotted Turtles - visit the species description here: mnfi.anr.msu.edu/spotted-turtle. To learn more about Michigan’s biodiversity, ecological communities and natural heritage, visit mnfi.anr.msu.edu
get involved with spotted turtle conservation!
While there are currently no Community Science projects specifically operating to benefit the preservation of Spotted Turtles in Michigan, there are many organizations who work to protect the habitats where it resides! Volunteer with some of these organizations and help protect the habitat that Spotted Turtles needs in order to survive.
report an observation
MNFI stewards the Michigan Natural Heritage Database and track observations of some of Michigan’s rarest forms of life to fully understand the population and range of rare species to protect biodiversity in Michigan. If you have encountered a Spotted Turtle, you can share the location information with these trusted conservation professionals here: mnfi.anr.msu.edu/species/report