# Yellow mud turtle

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Species of turtle

Yellow mud turtle In the Chihuahuan Desert, Texas Conservation status Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1] Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Testudines Suborder: Cryptodira Family: Kinosternidae Genus: Kinosternon Species: K. flavescens Binomial name Kinosternon flavescens (Agassiz, 1857) Synonyms[2] List Cinosternon flavescens Agassiz, 1857 Platythyra flavescens — Agassiz, 1857 Cinosternum flavescens — Agassiz, 1857 Kinosternum flavescens — Cope, 1892 Kinosternon flavescens — Stone, 1903 Kinosternon flavescens flavescens — Hartweg, 1938 Kinosternon flavescens spooneri P.W. Smith, 1951 Platythyra flavenscens [sic] Raun & Gehlbach, 1972 (ex errore) Kinosternon spooneri — Collins, 1991

The **yellow mud turtle** (***Kinosternon flavescens***),[3] also commonly known as the **yellow-necked mud turtle**,[4] is a [species](/source/Species) of [mud turtle](/source/Mud_turtle) in the [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)) [Kinosternidae](/source/Kinosternidae). The species is [endemic](/source/Endemism) to the [Central United States](/source/Central_United_States) and [Mexico](/source/Mexico).

## Distribution

- Northeastern Mexico: [Chihuahua](/source/Chihuahua_(state)), [Coahuila](/source/Coahuila), [Nuevo León](/source/Nuevo_Le%C3%B3n), and [Tamaulipas](/source/Tamaulipas).

- Midwestern and [Southwestern United States](/source/Southwestern_United_States): [Arizona](/source/Arizona), [Colorado](/source/Colorado), [Illinois](/source/Illinois), [Iowa](/source/Iowa), [Kansas](/source/Kansas), [Missouri](/source/Missouri), [Nebraska](/source/Nebraska), [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico), [Oklahoma](/source/Oklahoma), and [Texas](/source/Texas).

Its current presence is uncertain in [Veracruz](/source/Veracruz) (Mexico) and [Arkansas](/source/Arkansas) (United States).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Description

The yellow mud turtle is a small, olive-colored turtle. Both the common name, yellow mud turtle, and the [specific name](/source/Specific_name_(zoology)), *flavescens* (Latin: yellow), refer to the yellow-colored areas on the throat, head, and sides of the neck. The bottom shell ([plastron](/source/Plastron)) is yellow to brown with two hinges, allowing the turtle to close each end separately. The male's tail has a blunt spine on the end, but the female's tail does not.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

		- Texas

		- Carapace, Texas

		- Plastron, Texas

## Lifespan

The yellow mud turtle can live for more than 40 years.[5]

## Diet

Yellow mud turtles are [omnivorous](/source/Omnivore). Their diet includes worms, [crayfish](/source/Crayfish), [frogs](/source/Frogs), [snails](/source/Snail), [fish](/source/Fish), [fairy shrimp](/source/Fairy_shrimp), [slugs](/source/Slug), [leeches](/source/Leech), [tadpoles](/source/Tadpole), and other aquatic insects and [invertebrates](/source/Invertebrate). They also eat vegetation and dead and decaying matter.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Yellow mud turtles forage on land and water for food. In early spring their main diet is fairy shrimp they find in the shallows of their ponds. While they are burrowing, they will eat earthworms or grubs they encounter. Some studies show these turtles will eat earthworms that pass in front of them while hibernating. They also consume fish and other aquatic organisms.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Behaviour

This species spends most of the year estivating underground, becoming active again when ponds refill from the summer monsoon season. If the amount of rain in a given year is inadequate, this species will remain underground until there is enough rain, and may remain underground for up to 24 months.[6]

## Reproduction

Hatchling, Texas

Most female aquatic turtles excavate a nest in the soil near a water source, deposit their eggs and leave, but yellow mud turtles exhibit a pattern of parental care. They are the only turtle that has been observed that stays with the eggs for any period of time. The female lays a [clutch](/source/Clutch_(eggs)) of 1-9 eggs[7] and stays with the eggs for a period of time of a few hours up to 38 days. It is believed that the female stays to keep the predators away from the eggs. It was also observed that the females would urinate on their nests in dry years. This is believed to aid in the hatch success rate of the eggs in dry years.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

It is believed that in their natural habitat that spring rains induce the turtles to begin nesting. The eggs hatch in the fall and some hatchlings leave the nest and spend the winter in aquatic habitats, but most of the hatchlings burrow below the nest and wait until spring to emerge and then move to the water. This is believed to aid in survival rates of the hatchlings, because some water bodies freeze solid during the winter. Another benefit of waiting to emerge in the spring is that hatchlings enter an environment of increasing resources, such as heat, light, and food.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Predation

Yellow mud turtles have few natural predators as adults. As eggs and young they are preyed upon by [striped skunks](/source/Striped_skunk), [raccoons](/source/Raccoon), other turtles, water snakes ([Nerodia](/source/Nerodia)), and [large predatory fish](/source/Actinopterygii).[8]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-iucn_1-0)** Iverson, J.B. (2025). ["*Kinosternon flavescens*"](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/163421/161721376). *[IUCN Red List of Threatened Species](/source/IUCN_Red_List)*. **2025** e.T163421A161721376. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2305/IUCN.UK.2025-1.RLTS.T163421A161721376.en](https://doi.org/10.2305%2FIUCN.UK.2025-1.RLTS.T163421A161721376.en). Retrieved 2 May 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fritz_2007_2-0)** Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). ["Checklist of Chelonians of the World"](http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/851.pdf) (PDF). *Vertebrate Zoology*. **57** (2): 252. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3897/vz.57.e30895](https://doi.org/10.3897%2Fvz.57.e30895). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1864-5755](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1864-5755). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110501060224/http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/851.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Yellow Mud Turtle - Tucson Herpetological Society"](https://tucsonherpsociety.org/inhabitants/yellow-mud-turtle/). *Tucson Herpetological Society*. Retrieved 2018-10-25.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Zim & Smith (1956), p. 23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** van Dijk, P.P. (2016) [errata version of 2011 assessment]. ["*Kinosternon flavescens*"](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/163421/97380845). *[IUCN Red List of Threatened Species](/source/IUCN_Red_List)*. **2011** e.T163421A97380845. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T163421A5604699.en](https://doi.org/10.2305%2FIUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T163421A5604699.en). Retrieved 7 September 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Iverson, John B. (September 1989). "The Arizona Mud Turtle, *Kinosternon flavescens* arizonense (Kinosternidae), in Arizona and Sonora". *The Southwestern Naturalist*. **34** (3): 356–368. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1989SWNat..34..356I](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989SWNat..34..356I). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/3672164](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3672164). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [3672164](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3672164).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-rna_7-0)** [O'Shea, Mark](/source/Mark_O'Shea_(herpetologist)); Halliday, Tim (2010). *Reptiles and Amphibians*. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 46. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4053-5793-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4053-5793-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["*Kinosternon flavescens* (Yellow Mud Turtle)"](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Kinosternon_flavescens/). *Animal Diversity Web*.

## Further reading

- [Agassiz L](/source/Louis_Agassiz) (1857). *Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I.* Boston: Little, Brown and Company. li + 452 pp. (*Cinosternon flavescens*, new species, p. 260).

- [Behler JL](/source/John_L._Behler), King FW (1979). *The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians*. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-394-50824-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-394-50824-6). (*Kinosternon flavescens*, pp. 439–440 + Plate 313).

- Berry JF, Berry CM (1984). "A re-analysis of geographic variation and systematics in the yellow mud turtle, *Kinosternon flavescens* (Agassiz)". *Annals of the [Carnegie Museum](/source/Carnegie_Museum_of_Natural_History)* **53** (7): 185-206.

- [Conant R](/source/Roger_Conant_(herpetologist)) (1975). *A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition*. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-395-19979-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-395-19979-4) (hardcover), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-395-19977-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-395-19977-8) (paperback). (*Kinosternon flavescens*, pp. 44–46, Figures 6-7 + Plate 4 + Map 10).

- [Smith HM](/source/Hobart_Muir_Smith), Brodie ED Jr (1982). *Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification*. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-307-13666-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-307-13666-3). (*Kinosternon flavescens*, pp. 26–27).

- [Stebbins RC](/source/Robert_C._Stebbins) (2003). *A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition*. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. xiii + 533 pp. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-395-98272-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-395-98272-3). (*Kinosternon flavescens*, pp. 247–248 + Plate 20 + Map 67).

- [Zim HS](/source/Herbert_S._Zim), Smith HM (1956). *Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar American Species: A Golden Nature Guide*. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. (*Kinosternon flavescens*, pp. 23, 155).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Kinosternon flavescens](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kinosternon_flavescens).

Data related to [*Kinosternon flavescens*](https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/%27%27Kinosternon_flavescens%27%27) at Wikispecies

- [Yellow Mud Turtle](https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/yellow-mud-turtle), Missouri Department of Conservation

- [Yellow Mud Turtle](https://www.iowaherps.com/species/kinosternon_flavescens), Reptiles and Amphibians of Iowa

- [Yellow Mud Turtle](http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/collections/herps/data/ilspecies/ki_flavesc/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160920025418/http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/collections/herps/data/ilspecies/ki_flavesc) 2016-09-20 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), Illinois Natural History Survey

v t e Kinosternidae family Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Subclass: Anapsida Order: Testudines Suborder: Cryptodira Superfamily: Kinosternoidea Family: Kinosternidae Genera Species of the Kinosternidae family Claudius Narrow-bridged musk turtle †Hoplochelys †Hoplochelys clark Kinosternon Alamos mud turtle Arizona mud turtle Central American mud turtle Creaser's mud turtle Dunn's mud turtle Durango mud turtle Eastern mud turtle Florida mud turtle Herrera's mud turtle Jalisco mud turtle Mexican mud turtle Oaxaca mud turtle Rough-footed mud turtle Scorpion mud turtle Sonora mud turtle Striped mud turtle Tabasco mud turtle White-lipped mud turtle Yellow mud turtle Vallarta mud turtle †Kinosternon arizonense †Kinosternon pojoaque Sternotherus Common musk turtle Flattened musk turtle Loggerhead musk turtle Razor-backed musk turtle Staurotypus Giant musk turtle Mexican musk turtle Phylogenetic arrangement of turtles based on turtles of the world 2017 update: Annotated checklist and atlas of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. Key: †=extinct.

v t e Testudines Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Clade: Diapsida Order: Testudines Suborder Superfamily Family Genus Cryptodira Chelonioidea (Sea turtles) Cheloniidae †Allopleuron Caretta †Carolinochelys Chelonia †Eochelone Eretmochelys †Gigantatypus †Glarichelys †Itilochelys Lepidochelys †Mexichelys †Miocaretta Natator †Pacifichelys †Syllomus †Tasbacka Dermochelyidae †Arabemys †Corsochelys †Cosmochelys Dermochelys †Eosphargis †Gigantochelys †Mesodermochelys †Psephophorus †Euclastes †Peritresius †Procolpochelys †Protosphargis †Puppigerus Kinosternoidea Dermatemydidae Dermatemys Kinosternidae Claudius †Hoplochelys Kinosternon Staurotypus Sternotherus Testudinoidea Emydidae †Acherontemys Chrysemys Clemmys Deirochelys Emys Actinemys Emydoidea Glyptemys Graptemys Malaclemys Pseudemys Terrapene Trachemys †Wilburemys Geoemydidae Batagur †Banhxeochelys Cuora Cyclemys Geoclemys Geoemyda Hardella Heosemys Leucocephalon Malayemys Mauremys Melanochelys Morenia Notochelys Orlitia Pangshura Rhinoclemmys Sacalia Siebenrockiella Vijayachelys Platysternidae Platysternon Testudinidae Aldabrachelys Astrochelys Centrochelys Chelonoidis Chersina Cylindraspis †Cymatholcus †Floridemys Geochelone Gopherus †Hadrianus †Hesperotestudo Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria †Megalochelys †Oligopherus Psammobates Pyxis †Solitudo Stigmochelys †Stylemys Testudo Trionychia Carettochelyidae †Allaeochelys †Anosteira Carettochelys Trionychidae Amyda Apalone †Axestemys Chitra Cyclanorbis Cycloderma †Drazinderetes Dogania †Gilmoremys †Hutchemys †Khunnuchelys Lissemys Nilssonia Palea †Palaeoamyda Pelochelys Pelodiscus Rafetus Trionyx †Basilochelys †Sinaspideretes Chelydridae Chelydra †Chelydrops †Chelydropsis †Emarginachelys †Macrocephalochelys Macrochelys †Planiplastron †Protochelydra †Nanhsiungchelyidae †Anomalochelys †Basilemys †Jiangxichelys †Protostegidae †Alienochelys †Archelon †Atlantochelys †Bouliachelys †Calcarichelys †Cratochelone †Desmatochelys †Iserosaurus †Notochelone †Ocepechelon †Pneumatoarthrus †Protostega †Rhinochelys †Santanachelys †Terlinguachelys †Adocus †Argillochelys †Bashuchelys †Ctenochelys †Prionochelys †Toxochelys Pleurodira †Araripemydidae †Araripemys †Bothremydidae †Araiochelys †Arenila †Azabbaremys †Bothremys †Cearachelys †Chedighaii †Chupacabrachelys †Eotaphrosphys †Foxemys †Galianemys †Ilatardia †Inaechelys †Itapecuruemys †Jainemys †Kinkonychelys †Kurmademys †Labrostochelys †Nigeremys †Phosphatochelys †Polysternon †Puentemys †Rosasia †Rhothonemys †Sankuchemys †Taphrosphys †Ummulisani †Zolhafah Chelidae Acanthochelys Chelodina Chelus Elseya Elusor Emydura Hydromedusa †Lomalatachelys Mesoclemmys Myuchelys Phrynops Platemys †Prochelidella Pseudemydura Rheodytes Rhinemys †Yaminuechelys Pelomedusidae Pelomedusa Pelusios Podocnemididae †Albertwoodemys †Bauruemys †Brontochelys †Caninemys †Carbonemys †Cerrejonemys †Cordichelys Erymnochelys †Lapparentemys †Latentemys Peltocephalus Podocnemis †Stupendemys †Sahonachelyidae †Sahonachelys †Sokatra †Caribemys †Caririemys †Tacuarembemys Phylogenetic arrangement of turtles based on Turtles of the World 2017 Update: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. † = extinct. See also List of Testudines families

Taxon identifiers Kinosternon flavescens Wikidata: Q1077041 Wikispecies: Kinosternon flavescens ADW: Kinosternon_flavescens BOLD: 80801 CoL: 3R869 EoL: 792967 GBIF: 2442437 iNaturalist: 39742 IRMNG: 10359608 ITIS: 173766 IUCN: 163421 NAS: 2564 NatureServe: 2.102248 NCBI: 142484 Observation.org: 100203 Open Tree of Life: 487667 Paleobiology Database: 105336 RD: flavescens

Authority control databases National United States Israel Other Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Yellow mud turtle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_mud_turtle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_mud_turtle?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.