Kinosternon baurii

Three-striped Mud Turtle

Florida distribution: entire peninsula, missing from much of panhandle.

Identification: up to 12 cm. The doubly hinged plastron separates it from the Common and Loggerhead Musk, while the stripes on the carapace differentiate it from the Eastern Mud Turtle. Pectoral scute triangular unlike Musks.

Typical looking animal. The shell is wet so the stripes show up better.

A Common Musk and two Three-stripe Mud hatchlings on a bed of cypress needles.

Various views of a female Three-stripe Mud.

Plastron.

Keys Mud Turtle

These dark skinned and shelled Three-stripe Mud Turtles from the Lower Keys are considered Endangered and are protected.

Comparison of Mud (Kinosternon) and Musk (Sternotherus) pectoral scutes.

Kinosternon baurii Three-striped Mud Turtle     Sternotherus m. minor Loggerhead Musk Turtle

Kinosternon subrubrum steindachneri Florida Mud       Sternotherus odoratus Common Musk