You are here » home › advanced search › Pseudemys rubriventris

Pseudemys rubriventris (LE CONTE, 1830)

IUCN Red List - Pseudemys rubriventris - Near Threatened, NT
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Pseudemys rubriventris?

Add your own observation of
Pseudemys rubriventris »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaEmydidae, Deirochelyinae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Red-Bellied Cooter, Northern Red-bellied Turtle, Eastern Redbelly Turtle 
SynonymTestudo rubriventris LE CONTE 1830: 101
Emys irrigata BELL 1835 (fide DUMÉRIL & BIBRON)
Emys irrigita [sic] — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 276
Emys Rubriventris — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 281
Emys rivulata GRAY 1844
Pseudemys rubiventris [sic] — BAUR 1893
Pseudemys rubriventris rubriventris BABCOCK 1937
Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi BABCOCK 1937
Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi BABCOCK 1937: 293
Chrysemys rubriventris rubriventris — FRITZ 1981
Pseudemys (Ptychemys) rubriventris — WARD 1984: 46
Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi — WHITE 1986
Pseudemys rubriventris rubriventris — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 213
Pseudemys rubriventris bangsi — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 213
Pseudemys rubriventris — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 69
Pseudemys (Ptychemys) rubriventris — IVERSON 1992: 196
Chrysemys rubriventris bangsi — DODD 1997
Pseudemys rubriventris — CROTHER 2000
Pseudemys (Ptychemys) rubriventris — MCCORD et al. 2005
Pseudemys rubriventris — TTWG 2021 
DistributionUSA ((Pennsylvania, along the Atlantic Coastal Plain in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, NE North Carolina, and west up the Potomac River to E West Virginia, relict populations in Plymouth county and possibly Essex county, Massachusetts)

Type locality: "in rivers from New-Jersey to Virginia, ... in such as are rocky; in the Delaware, near Trenton" [USA); Stated as "Delaware River, near Trenton, New Jersey" [USA) by Schmidt (1953:103)

Introduced to Korea (Chang et al. 2012).

bangsi: Type locality: Boot Pond, Plymouth, Massachusetts.  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesLectotype: MNHN-RA 9208 (designated by R. Bour, pers. comm. cited in Iverson 1992: 196). See also Bour 2003.
Holotype: MCZ 16778, adult, collected by H.J. Thayer, 1912 [bangsi] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1939 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: partly after Rhodin et al 2010.

Diet: herbivorous.

Habitat: freshwater (lakes, ponds, rivers)

Type species: Testudo rubriventris LE CONTE 1830 is the type species of the genus Ptychemys AGASSIZ 1857.

Hybridization: P. rubriventris and P. floridana sometimes hybridize (Crenshaw, 1965). 
EtymologyNamed for its red venter; referring to the reddish color of the plastron. 
References
  • Adler,G.H.; Austin,C.C. & Dudley,R. 1995. Dispersal and speciation of skinks among archipelagos in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Evolutionary Ecology 9: 529-541 - get paper here
  • Ambrose, Cypress; Abigail DeCesare & Randolph M. Chambers 2024. Population Demographics of Native Red-Bellied Cooters and Invasive Red-Eared Sliders in a Virginia Lake Chelonian Conservation and Biology Jun 2024 Vol. 23, No. 1: 113-118 - get paper here
  • Babcock, H.L. 1937. A new subspecies of the Red-Bellied Terrapin Pseudemys rubriventris (Le Conte). Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 8: 293-294
  • Bour, R. 2003. Previously unrecognized original type specimens of American turtles collected by John Le Conte in 1828. Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 4 (3): 537
  • Bour, R. 2008. Global diversity of turtles (Chelonii; Reptilia) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:593–598 - get paper here
  • Browne, Robert A.;Haskell, N. Alison;Griffin, Curtice R.;Ridgeway, Jeffrey W. 1996. Genetic variation among populations of the redbelly turtle (Pseudemys rubriventris). Copeia 1996 (1): 192-195 - get paper here
  • Chang, Min-Ho; Jae-Young Song and Kyo-Soung Koo 2012. The Status of Distribution for Native Freshwater Turtles in Korea, with Remarks on Taxonomic Position. Korean J. Environ. Biol. 30 (2): 151-155
  • Conant, Roger 1951. The red-bellied terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris (Le Conte), in Pennsylvania. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 32: 281-291
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • Dodd, C. Kenneth, Jr. 1979. A bibliography of endangered and threatened amphibians and reptiles in the United States and its territories (conservation, distribution, natural history, status). Smithsonian Herp. Inf. Serv. (46): 1-35 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., and G. Bibron. 1835. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles, Vol. 2. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 680 p. - get paper here
  • Ernst, Carl H.; Lovich, Jeffrey E. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada, 2nd edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 827 pp. - get paper here
  • Ernst,C.H. and Barbour,R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. - London
  • FLEMING, JILL; JENNIFER F. MOORE, HARDIN WADDLE, JULIEN MARTIN & EVAN H. CAMPBELL GRANT. 2022. Range-Wide Population Projections for Northern Red-Bellied Cooters (Pseudemys rubriventris). Journal of Herpetology 56(3): 362–369. - get paper here
  • Fox, James 2019. Pseudemys rubriventris (Northern Red- bellied Cooter). Catesbeiana 39 (1): 35 - get paper here
  • Fritz, U. 1981. Synonymie von Chrysemys concinna (LE CONTE 1830) mit Chrysemys floridana (LE CONTE 1830) mit Berücksichtigung von Chrysemys rubriventris (LE CONTE 1830), WERMUTH & MERTENS 1961. Herpetofauna 3 (11): 31-33 - get paper here
  • Graham T E 1991. Pseudemys rubriventris (LeConte). Red belly turtle. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (510): 1-4 - get paper here
  • Green, N.B., & Pauley, T.K. 1987. Amphibians and reptiles in West Virginia. Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 241 pp.
  • GULETTE, ALISSA L.; DONALD J. BROWN, LAUREN SCHUMACHER & JAMES T. ANDERSON. 2022. Geographic distribution: PSEUDEMYS RUBRIVENTRIS (Northern Red-bellied Cooter). USA: WEST VIRGINIA: Berkeley Co. Herpetological Review 53 (2): 260.
  • Harris Jr., H.S. 1968. Reidentification of two Maryland Pseudemys. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 4 (4): 97 - get paper here
  • Haskell, A., T.E. Graham, C.R. Griffin & J.B. Hestbeck 1996. Size Related Survival of Headstarted Redbelly Turtles (Pseudemys rubriventris) in Massachusetts Journal of Herpetology 30 (4): 524-527. - get paper here
  • HAYDT, NATALIE T.; DANIEL J. HOCKING & SEAN STERRETT. 2022. Spatial Capture–Recapture Derived Turtle Capture Probabilities and Densities in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Journal of Herpetology 56(2): 203–210. - get paper here
  • Iverson, John B. and Terry E. Graham. 1990. Geographic variation in the redbelly turtle, Pseudemys rubiventris (Reptilia: Testudines). Annals of Carnegie Museum. 59 (1): 1-13 - get paper here
  • Iverson, John B.;Graham, Terry E. 1990. Geographic variation in the redbelly turtle, Pseudemys rubriventris (Reptilia: Testudines). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 59 (1): 1-13 - get paper here
  • JACKSON, D. R., AND R. T. ZAPPALORTI 2020. Pseudemys nelsoni (Florida Red-Bellied Cooter) And Pseudemys rubriventris (Northern Red-Bellied Cooter). Kyphosis And Kyphoscoliosis. Herpetological Review 51: 113-114.
  • Kramer, D. 1967. A Red-bellied Turtle, Pseudemys rubriventris, from Kent County, Maryland. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 3 (4): 103 - get paper here
  • Le Conte, J. 1830. Description of the species of North American tortoises. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 3 [1829]: 91-131. - get paper here
  • McCord, W.P., Joseph-Ouni, M. & Uhrig, D. 2005. Chelonian Illustrations # 23 - Red-bellied and River Cooters of North America. Reptilia (GB) (43): 79- - get paper here
  • Mitchell, J. C. & Reay, K.K. 1999. Atlas of amphibians and reptiles in Virginia. Specialty Publication 1, VA Dept of Game and Fisheries, 122 pp. - get paper here
  • Mitchell, J.C. 1994. The reptiles of Virginia. Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, ca. 350 pp.
  • Mitchell, Joseph C. 2014. Pseudemys rubriventris (northern red-bellied cooter) boat propeller mortality. Herpetological Review 45 (1): 117 - get paper here
  • Nemuras, K. & Sparhawk, T. 1966. Additional records of Pseudemys rubriventris and Pseudemys scripta elegans in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 2 (3): 6 - get paper here
  • Nickl, Sebastian 2017. Eine alternative Möglichkeit zur Haltung großer Schmuckschildkröten. Terraria-Elaphe 2017 (2): 72-74 - get paper here
  • Palmer, W.M. & Braswell, A.L. 1995. Reptiles of North Carolina. Univ. North Carolina Press
  • SCHNELL, LAUREN; GARRETT WHITE & SCOTT MCROBERT. 2022. PSEUDEMYS RUBRIVENTRIS (Northern Red-bellied Cooter). NESTING. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 491.
  • Seidel, Michael E. & Carl H. Ernst 2017. A Systematic Review of the Turtle Family Emydidae. Vertebrate Zoology 67 (1): 1–122 - get paper here
  • Seidel, Michael E.; and Palmer, William M 1991. Morphological variation in turtles of the genus Pseudemys (Testudines: Emydidae) from central Atlantic drainages. Brimleyana 17: 105-135 - get paper here
  • Spinks, Phillip Q.; Robert C. Thomson, Gregory B. Pauly, Catherine E. Newman, Genevieve Mount, H. Bradley Shaffer 2013. Misleading phylogenetic inferences based on single-exemplar sampling in the turtle genus Pseudemys. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68 (2): 269-281 - get paper here
  • Stephens, P.R. & Wiens, J.J. 2003. Ecological diversification and phylogeny of emydid turtles. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 79: 577-610 - get paper here
  • Stephens, P.R. & Wiens, J.J. 2009. EVOLUTION OF SEXUAL SIZE DIMORPHISMS IN EMYDID TURTLES: ECOLOGICAL DIMORPHISM, RENSCH’S RULE, AND SYMPATRIC DIVERGENCE. Evolution 63-4: 910–925 - get paper here
  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P. 2021. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Chelonian Research Monographs 8:1–472. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. - get paper here
  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J.; van Dijk, P.P.; Iverson, J.B. & Shaffer, H.B. [turtle taxonomy working group] 2010. Turtles of the World, 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v3.2010 - get paper here
  • White, Christopher P. 1986. Freshwater turtles: Designed for survival turtles. National Geographic 169(1):40-59
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator