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Florida Red-bellied Cooter
Pseudemys nelsoni
The Florida red-bellied cooter or Florida redbelly turtle (Pseudemys nelsoni) is a species of turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States.
From the article Florida red-bellied cooter on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The Florida red-bellied cooter can be distinguished from other similar turtles by its distinctive red-tinged plastron (belly) and two cusps (like teeth) on its upper beak. Like most turtles of the genus Pseudemys, this species is a fairly large river turtle. Straight-line carapace length in mature turtles can range from 20.3 to 37.5 cm (8.0 to 14.8 in). Females, which average 30.5 cm (12.0 in) in carapace length and weigh 4 kg (8.8 lb), are noticeably larger than males, which are around 25 cm (9.8 in) and 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) in mass.
Range & habitat
Pseudemys nelsoni is native to Florida, and southern Georgia. Fossils of P. nelsoni have also been found along the coast of South Carolina from the Pleistocene Epoch, indicating that the historic range of this species used to extend farther north. Today, its northern counterpart, the Northern Red-bellied Cooter (Psuedemys rubriventris) occupies this region.
Wikipedia: “Geographic distribution”
In human culture
The specific name, nelsoni, is in honor of American biologist George Nelson (born 1873).
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Pseudemys nelsoni in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 39824.