Spotted turtles spend the winter hibernating, sometimes communally, usually on the muddy bottoms of fairly shallow waterways characterised by a slow, steady flow of water (6). Individuals are most commonly seen in spring when basking on logs, stumps, grass mats and tussocks, or searching for nest sites (2) (6) (7). Courtship and mating activity begins soon after emergence from winter dormancy, with copulation usually occurring in shallow waters (3), and typically involving the male chasing the female, often nipping her legs and shell margins (6). Multiple males may also fight with each other for the right to court a single female (6). Breeding can occur throughout the active season, but peaks in late May to early June (2), and sperm is stored until needed to fertilize the eggs (7). Nesting occurs from mid- to late June, primarily at night (2). Clutches of two to seven eggs are deposited in a nest dug in sand or soft soil on rocky outcrops, in a sunny location (2). The number of clutches laid each year varies with latitude; in the north, less than one clutch per year is laid, while up to three clutches per year are laid in the south (8). The natural incubation period may last 73 to 83 days (5), with faster development at higher temperatures (3). Most young emerge from their nests in August or September, but overwintering in the nest has been reported (3) (5). The sex of hatchlings is determined by nest temperature, with cooler temperatures producing mostly males and warmer temperatures producing females (2). Meanwhile, the adults often aestivate in the mud bottom of waterways or in muskrat burrows or lodges during the hot summer months (5). It is not known exactly why these turtles aestivate, but it may be related to declines in food abundance, to avoid desiccation or to avoid predation (9). Come late October or early November, spotted turtles typically return to flooded puddles and ponds once more to over winter under the ice until late February or late April, depending on latitude (6). Spotted turtles have the potential to live up to 65 years for males and 110 years for females, but these small turtles are highly vulnerable to predation (10). When threatened they will quickly dive into the water and bury themselves in the bottom mud (11). During the winter hibernation period, muskrats are the primary predator (11). Spotted turtles feed on a variety of plant and animal foods, most of which are taken in the water. Animal matter forms the bulk of the diet and includes worms, slugs, snails, crustaceans, adult and larval insects, frogs, tadpoles and fish carrion, supplemented by algae, leaves, soft aquatic plants and water lily seeds (2) (3) (6).

As its common name implies, this small turtle is easily recognised by the distinctive yellow to orange spotting on its smooth, brownish-black upper shell (carapace) (2) (4). This pattern of spotting extends onto the dark upper surface of the head and limbs (4), while the lower surfaces of the legs and neck are orange to pink or salmon-red (3). There is also usually a large yellow or orange blotch on each side of the head (3). The lower shell (plastron) is yellow to orange with large black patches on each scute, which normally become darker and more extensive with age (3). Males tend to have brown eyes, a tan, brown or black chin and a slightly concave lower shell, while females have orange eyes, a yellow chin, and a flat lower shell (3).

The range of Clemmys guttata is roughly divided into two possibly discontinuous portions of eastern North America; the first extends along the eastern seaboard from southern Maine through New England and south through the eastern (largely coastal plain) portions of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida. There are isolated populations recorded in southeastern Quebec and adjacent northern Vermont, and in the western Carolinas. The second (Great Lakes) portion of the range extends from northeastern Illinois into the western and southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern Indiana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania, and across extreme southern Ontario into western New York. Isolated populations occur in central Indiana and the Georgian Bay region of Ontario (Barnwell et al., 1997; Bartlett and Bartlett, 1999; Conant and Collins, 1998; Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Within this range, the Spotted Turtle is spottily distributed in the remaining suitable habitat, and most populations are small and colonial in nature. Generalized population declines and local extirpations have occurred, especially in the Great Lakes portion of the range, but more recently in the East as well (Klemens, 1993; Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)) Range extends from southern Maine (Hunter et al. 1999), southern Quebec, southern Ontario (MacCulloch 2002), Michigan (Lower Peninsula; Harding 1997), and northeastern Illinois south to central Indiana, central Ohio, and southwestern Pennsylvania, and southward along U.S. east coast from New England to northern or north-central Florida (Conant and Collins 1991, Ernst et al. 1994, Barnwell et al. 1997).

Continent: North-America
Distribution: Canada (S Ontario, Quebec),  USA (along the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Maine, SE New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, S New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, N Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, NE Illinois)  
Type locality: vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (designated by MITTLEMAN 1945)

The spotted turtle occupies a fragmented range across north-eastern North America, primarily along the eastern seaboard and the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada (2) (3) (4).

Clemmys guttata is a very small species that rarely exceeds a straight-line carapace length of 11.4 cm (4.5 inches); the maximum recorded carapace length is 13.6 cm (5.4 inches). The adult carapace is smooth, without obvious growth ridges (annuli), and is black or brownish-black with a variable number of round yellow spots. These spots may fade in old adults, and occasional specimens lack carapace spots altogether. The plastron is yellow or orange with a black blotch covering a portion of each scute; in some male or old female specimens the black pigment can cover nearly the entire plastron. Growth rings (annuli) are usually visible on plastral scutes; counting these annuli is an unreliable method for determining the age of a mature specimen, though such a count may allow an estimate of a specimen's minimum age.

The head is mostly black, with a variable number of yellow spots; there is usually a large, sometimes divided, yellow or orange blotch on each side of the head. The upper jaw is notched medially. The upper surfaces of the legs and tail are black, again usually with a scattering of yellow spots, and the lower surfaces of the legs and neck are orange to pink or salmon-red.

The sexes are dimorphic, and easily distinguished in mature specimens. Males have a more elongate and compressed carapace, and a concave (centrally depressed) plastron. The male's eyes are typically brown, and the chin is tan, brown, or black. The male's tail is comparatively longer and thicker, with the vent (anal opening) beyond the edge of the carapace with tail extended. The female has a higher, more rounded carapace, and a flat plastron. The female's eyes are usually orange and her chin is yellow or orange. The female's tail is comparatively narrow, and when extended, the vent is at or beneath the edge of the carapace. Females are slightly larger than males, on average.

The hatchling Spotted Turtle has a nearly circular carapace from 2.5 to 3.1 cm in length; coloration above is like the adult but with only one spot per scute. The tail may be nearly as long as the carapace. Juvenile Spotted Turtles have more conspicuous scute annuli on their carapaces than do the adults (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Length: 13 cm

Habitat and Ecology

Systems

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater

Spotted Turtles prefer shallow waters with a soft bottom substrate and some submergent and emergent vegetation. These can include sedge meadows, boggy ponds, fens, tamarack swamps, sphagnum seepages, and slow, muddy streams. These turtles also frequently wander on land between wetlands, and (as noted above) may aestivate on land for weeks at a time (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Terrestrial Biomes: forest

Comments: Spotted turtles inhabit mostly unpolluted, shallow bodies of water with a soft bottom and aquatic vegetation, such as small marshes, marshy pastures, bogs, fens, woodland streams, swamps, small ponds, vernal pools, and lake margins; in some areas they occur in brackish tidal streams.. Ponds surrounded by relatively undisturbed meadow or undergrowth are most favorable. These turtles favor waters with a soft bottom and aquatic vegetation. They often bask along the water's edge, on brush piles in water, or on logs or vegetation clumps. Often they move seasonally among different wetland types and may spend significant time on land during summer.

Cold season hibernation occurs in the muddy bottoms of waterways or bogs in communal hibernacula. Hibernacula usually have water depths of 55 to 95 cm (22 to 37 in) with a slow but steady flow or drift of water through densely vegetated wetlands with a deep, soft, mucky substrate (Carroll, pers. comm.). Muskrat burrows in Pennsylvania were used as winter hibernacula, nocturnal sleeping sites, refugia from danger, and estivation sites during the warm dry months (Ernst 1976). In Massachusetts, radio-tagged individuals hibernated in red maple-sphagnum swamps, then moved in late March to upland vernal pools, where they spent 3-4 months, then left the pools in August and spent 4-14 days in secluded terrestrial sites, then completed the move back to the swamps in August (Graham 1995). Hibernation occurred exclusively in bogs in central Ontario (Haxton and Berrill 1999) and in sphagnum swamps on an island in Georgian Bay, Ontario (Litzgus and Brooks 2000). See Lewis and Ritzenthaler (1997) for characteristics of hibernacula and hibernacula use in a fen in Ohio. Litzgus and Brooks (2000) documented seasonal changes in habitat selection in Ontario.

Eggs are laid in well-drained soil of marshy pastures, in grass or sedge tussock or mossy hummocks, in open areas (e.g., dirt path or road) at edge of thick vegetation, or similar sites exposed to sun. Sandy, sparsely vegetated strips and washouts along agricultural field edges are favorable for nesting (Carroll, pers. comm.). In South Carolina, gravid females spent a considerable amount of time on or at the edge of a powerline right-of-way, and they nested on the edge of the powerline and in relatively recent clearcuts (Litzgus and Mousseau 2004).

New Hampshire: deep-muck, densely vegetated scrub-shrub swamp or emergent marsh habitats that are edgewaters or backwaters of low-gradient reaches of permanent streams with moderate to slow flowages, and water depth of 10 to 50 cm (Carroll, pers. comm.). Rhode Island: reported from salt marshes and small bogs or ponds with adjacent dry upland oak-pine forest (DeGraaf and Rudis 1983). Florida: woodland or meadow streams with sphagnum. Indiana: thoroughly aquatic, said to inhabit bogs by Smith (1961); also has been collected in shallow inlets of lakes, grassy marshes, drainage ditches, and woodland ponds, and is rarely found in flowing water (Minton 1972). Maine: unpolluted, small, shallow wetlands surrounded by dense vegetation such as slow streams, ponds, vernal pools, bog ponds, roadside ditches, and wet meadows (Hunter et al. 1992). Vermont: areas of highbush blueberry/red maple swamps, and in kettle basin shrub swamps (Fichtel, pers. comm.).

This semi-aquatic turtle is usually found in shallow bodies of water including bogs, marshes, swamps, sedge-meadows, woodland streams and brooks, permanent and seasonal pools and ponds (1) (4). This species also wanders onto land when travelling between wetlands and to nest, and moist terrestrial sites are sometimes used for aestivation and hibernation (1) (5).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Females move up to several hundred meters between wetlands and upland nesting sites. See Population/Occurrence Delineation for detailed information on movements.

Spotted Turtles eat a variety of plant and animal foods, which are consumed in the water. Feeding does not begin in spring until water temperatures reach about 15°C (Ernst, 1982). Vegetable foods include algae, leaves of soft aquatic plants, and water lily seeds. Animal foods include worms, mollusks, crustaceans, adult and larval insects, amphibian eggs and larvae, and carrion (Behler, 1996; Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Comments: Primary diet is various aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates; also eats plant material, carrion, and occasionally small vertebrates (Harding and Holman 1990). forages and seeks out food by creeping about in shallow water and periodically probing with snout into algae and other aquatic vegetation (Ernst 1976); does not feed out of the water. Hatchlings eat mainly small insects, worms, and snails (Tyning 1990).

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: > 300

Comments: About 200 element occurrence records from observations since 1970 were reported from seven states (Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, West Virginia). Six other states indicated there were thought to be "many" populations, ranging from estimates of 50+ to 100s, and ranked the species S4 or S5 (Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania). Three other states (Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts) indicated that the species was somewhat rare (S3). Information on Canadian populations was not available. Based on this information, it is estimated that there are at least 500 occurrences rangewide.

Certainly there are at least several hundred occurrences, but the number of occurrences has not been assessed using recently developed occurrence criteria.

10,000 - 1,000,000 individuals

Comments: This estimate is based on a minimal average population size of 20 individuals and the above minimal estimate of some 500 populations rangewide.

The spotted turtle is usually solitary but may be found in large aggregations in suitable feeding areas or at basking sites (Ernst 1976). In Pennsylvania, population density was estimated at 15-32 per acre (Ernst 1976). The population had a 1:1.46 male to female ratio and a 1:2.09 juvenile to adult ratio. Out of a total of seven different species of turtles captured in the mark-recapture study, Clemmys guttata was the second most abundant turtle comprising 10.2 percent of the total. Another turtle in this study, Chrysemys picta, had a population density of 239 individuals per acre. In two sites in Massachusetts, density was estimated at 0.2 and 1.4 adults per ha (Milam and Melvin 2001).

In Pennsylvania, Ernst (1976) found there to be a commensal relationship between spotted turtles and muskrats. Many turtles were dependent on the bank burrows of the muskrat, with the burrow forming the center of the home range.

In Maine, fish are believed to be competitors for food with the spotted turtle, and painted turtles are believed to compete for space (McCollough, pers. comm.). There is an overlap of habitat use and seasonal movements between adult spotted turtles and subadult Blanding's turtles; competition for food or space may or may not be a problem (Carroll, pers. comm.). Occasional juvenile common snapping turtles and adult eastern painted turtles appear in spotted turtle microhabitats and may compete for food (Carroll, pers. comm.).

Predators include foxes, skunks, and raccoons (Ernst 1976; McCollough, pers. comm.). Hatchlings and juveniles are eaten by many birds and small mammals such as shrews (Harding, pers. comm.).

Parasites include leeches (Placobdella sp.) that attach to limb sockets, tails, and plastrons (Ernst 1976). Leeches were found on spotted turtles just out of hibernation, suggesting that leeches overwinter attached to the turtles (Carroll, pers. comm.).

Comments: Spotted turtles are most active during daytime in spring and are relatively inactive in summer, fall, and winter, though sometimes they are active in the vicinity of overwintering sites in September and October. In Pennsylvania, feeding in the spring did not start until the water temperature reached 15 C, and all feeding individuals had cloacal temperatures over 15 C (Ernst 1982). During summer drought, they may withdraw to overwintering sites or other refugia and become largely inactive, or go into estivation (Carroll, pers. comm.); estivation is usually initiated when the mean air temperature is 30 C (Ernst 1982). If suitable water levels are available in association with cover favored by this species, significant numbers may remain active, even if water temperatures become relatively warm (22 to 28 degrees C) (Carroll, pers. comm.). At the northern extent of the range in central Ontario, spotted turtles are active from early or mid-April through late October-early November (Haxton and Berrill 2001), longer than characteristic of southern populations. See Lovich (1988) for comparison of seasonal activity patterns in Maryland, South Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Activity is strongly diurnal. Ernst (1976) found that the mean daily activity period became progressively earlier as the season advanced and temperatures increased. When darkness approaches, turtles burrow into the mud or crawl into muskrat burrows and become inactive until dawn; only nesting females are active after dusk (Ernst 1976).

Average lifespan

Status: captivity: 6.1 years.

Average lifespan

Status: captivity: 26.0 years.

Average lifespan

Sex: male

Status: captivity: 8.3 years.

Maximum longevity: 30 years (wild) Observations: Anecdotal evidence suggests these animals may live up to 50 years (http://www.dec.state.ny.us/). In the wild, they live more than 30 years (http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/neparc/).

Spotted Turtles probably reach sexual maturity at an age of 7 to 14 years, at a carapace length of about 9 cm (3.5 inches), with northern animals probably taking longer to mature than those living farther south (Ernst, 1970; Harding, 1997).

Courtship and mating activity begins soon after emergence from winter dormancy; in Pennsylvania, Ernst (1982) recorded Spotted Turtle courtship at a water temperature of 8.5°C, while Ontario turtles were courting at a temperature of 2°C (Litzgus and Brooks, 2000). Male Spotted Turtles may fight each other, presumably over access to females. Courtship involves the male chasing the female under water while nipping and biting her legs and carapace; he then mounts her shell and bites at her head and neck. Copulation occurs in shallow water and may last for an hour (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Nesting can occur from late May through June. Females typically lay only one clutch of from 1 to 8 eggs per year, though a few may lay a second, smaller clutch a few days after the first. Captive females have been reported to lay multiple clutches and far more eggs in a year's time. One captive female from New York produced eight clutches in a thirteen month period, for a total of 42 eggs (J. Czech, pers. comm.). Such reports suggest that female Spotted Turtles are capable of a greater production of eggs than is normally seen in the wild, but are constrained by unknown environmental factors (such as a limited food supply or short activity season).

Nesting females seek open, sunny locations that offer moist, but well-drained, soils. If better sites are lacking, nests may also be placed in the tops of sedge hummocks or in accumulations of vegetation (such as decaying leaf litter). The nests are dug with the hind feet. The eggs, 2.5 to 3.4 cm long, are elliptical and have thin, flexible shells. Incubation requires from 44 to 83 days, with faster development at higher temperatures. Most young emerge from their nests in August or September, but overwintering in the nest has been reported (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

The sex of the hatchlings is determined by nest temperature during the middle third of the incubation period; in the lab, cooler experimental temperatures ( 22.5° to 27°C) produced mostly males, and warmer temperatures (30°C) produced only females (Ewert and Nelson, 1991).

Average gestation period: 77 days.

Average number of offspring: 3.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

Sex: male: 2920 days.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

Sex: female: 2920 days.

Mating occurs March-May, typically during cool weather (Ernst 1982). Eggs are laid late May-early July (mostly June) (Ernst 1967). Nest digging lasts 29 to 75 minutes (Ernst 1970); egg-laying and covering of the nest may last well into the night. All-night nesting has been documented in Illinois (Carroll, pers. comm.).

Clutch size is 1-8, with an average of 3-5 (Adler 1961, Ernst 1970); mean clutch size is larger in the north than in the south (Litzgus and Mousseau 2003). Usually one clutch is laid each year (Ernst 1967), but some females may produce 2 clutches/season (Herp. Rev. 20:69). In South Carolina, 5 of 12 gravid females produced second clutches and 1 produced a third (Litzgus and Mousseau 2003). Incubation requires 45 to 83 days, depending on nest temperature.

Hatching occurs in late August to September (Fineran 1948, Ernst and Barbour 1972, Ernst et al. 1974, Harding and Holman 1990). Rarely, hatchlings from late nestings may overwinter in the nest, emerging the following spring (Ernst 1975). Growth of the hatchlings the first season depends on the date of emergence from the nest, varying from 4.2 to 17.5 mm (Pennsylvania; Ernst 1975).

Growth after the first season varies, with the smallest individuals growing the fastest (Ernst 1975). The growth rate decreases as the turtles increase in size; adults grow at a rate of 2 to 3 percent each year (Ernst 1975). In Rhode Island, mean plastral length increased 7.5 mm per year from the first through the fifth year of growth (Graham 1970). The annual growth rate declined each season from the second to the sixth and then increased in the seventh preceding the attainment of sexual maturity.

Age of sexual maturity is probably more closely related to reaching a specific size than age, although this length is usually obtained by 10 years of age (Ernst 1975). Sexual maturity may take longer to achieve in the north than in southeastern Pennsylvania, where females are sexually mature in about 7-9 years, males in 7-10 years (Ernst, 1994, J. Herpetol. 28:99-102). Males reached maturity at a minimum plastron length of 83.4 mm; in females the minimum was 80.8 mm (Ernst and Barbour 1972).

The maximum life span of adults is at least 26 years but may be as high as 50 (Tyning 1990). The longevity of a captive recorded by Pope (1939) was 42 years, and Graham (1970) recorded a 26-year-old turtle found in the wild. In Pennyslvania, prenatal mortality eliminated 32 percent of the eggs per clutch and postnatal mortality reduced the progeny to still a smaller number (Ernst 1976); egg survivorship to hatching in Pennsylvania was 0.58 (Iverson 1991); reproductive potential was 2.4 young per clutch (Ernst 1976); estimated average annual mortality for juveniles was 45%.

As is true of most turtles, spotted turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination; eggs incubated at 27 C or below produced a large percentage of males whereas those incubated at 30 C produced all females (Ewert and Nelson 1991).

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Species: 1
Species With Barcodes: 1

Year Assessed

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Reviewer/s

Contributor/s

The specialized wetland habitats used by Spotted Turtles have been widely drained and converted by humans into agricultural and residential land, or modified into more open aquatic habitats not favored Spotted Turtles. Many of the remaining Spotted turtle populations are now very small and isolated, with little or no opportunities for genetic exchange with other sites (this is especially the case in the Great Lakes area, but is true in other parts of the range as well). As these turtle "colonies" become increasingly isolated, they also become more vulnerable to human exploitation and to predation by "subsidized" predators such as raccoons (Harding, 1997, and pers. ob.).

Like its close relatives, the Wood Turtle (Clemmys insculpta) and Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), the Spotted Turtle exhibits certain life history traits that cause it be be unusually vulnerable to human exploitation and habitat degradation. These traits include: high egg (and probably hatchling) mortality, low reproductive potential under natural conditions, and delayed sexual maturity (7 -- 14 yrs), balanced by relatively long potential adult breeding life. Species with these traits will predictably require high annual survivorship of mature adults and older juveniles to maintain population stability. Any factor which reduces adult survivorship below expected natural levels (such as collecting or harvest by humans, road mortality, or an increase in predator numbers) will inevitably lead to a declining population, and perhaps eventual extinction of the population. It is thus reasonable to manage Spotted Turtles (and other long-lived turtle species) with the assumption that they have no harvestable surplus in their populations (Congdon et al., 1993, 1994; Harding, 1997). Most states and provinces do offer this species some degree of legal protection from exploitation, but protection is not yet consistent or universal over the turtle's range (Levell, 1997). Spotted turtles are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN's Red List, and they are considered threatened in the state of Michigan.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: threatened

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: vulnerable

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widely distributed from the southeastern Great Lakes region to New England and southern Quebec, and southward through the east coast states to Florida; locally common in many areas, but apparently declining in some areas, due to habitat loss and fragmentation and perhaps excessive collecting; better information is needed on the current population trend.

Intrinsic Vulnerability: Highly to moderately vulnerable.

Environmental Specificity: Narrow to moderate.

Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1).

Population

Population Trend

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable to decline of 30%

Comments: Trends are not well-documented in most of the range. Populations probably have declined in areas with heavy development and extensive loss of wetlands, but many other areas retain viable populations. For example, declines have occurred in heavily developed parts of Connecticut and New York, but the species remains locally common in many areas in southern New England (Klemens 1993; Hammerson, pers. obs.). Declined in northwestern Indiana between the 1930s and 1990s (Brodman et al. 2002).

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 30%

Comments: Likely relatively stable in extent of occurrence, uncertain degree of decline in population size and number/condition of occurrences.

Major Threats

Degree of Threat: B : Moderately threatened throughout its range, communities provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure of the community over the long-term, but are apparently recoverable

Comments: Primary threats to this species are habitat fragmentation and alteration, grazing, draining and filling of wetlands, road mortality, collecting, artificial control of water levels, and pollution. Warm-season draw-downs of wetlands for game management can initiate emigrations of turtles that result in significant road kills (Harding 1993, pers. comm.). Illicit commercial exploitation and incidental collecting is depleting populations in many parts of the range (Hunter et al. 1992). Increasing human populations and associated development in the last two decades have reduced the quantity and quality of the spotted turtle habitat in southern Maine (McCollough 1991) and southeastern New Hampshire (Carroll 1993, pers. comm.), as well as in many other parts of its range. Nest predation and road kills may increase as development fragments the landscape. The small wetlands favored by this species are often not protected by wetland conservation laws. Tolerant of nondestructive intrusion, though heavy human visitation in late spring/early summer could interfere with nesting.

Spotted turtle numbers are declining due to unsustainable collection for the pet trade, habitat destruction and fragmentation, road mortality, agriculture, and pollution (2) (12). The drainage of wetlands, deepening of marsh habitats in favour of waterfowl populations, and the conversion of wetlands into agricultural and residential land has resulted in the loss, fragmentation, and modification of the spotted turtle's habitat. .This has left remaining spotted turtles living in very small, isolated subpopulations, which are more vulnerable to the effects of inbreeding, over-collection for the pet trade and predation (7) (11). In addition, road related mortality is thought to be a significant factor for nests and hatchlings, as well as female adults as they travel over land to nest (4) (6). In Ontario, pollution of aquatic habitats by substances such as DDT and PCB's is also thought to be a problem for some spotted turtle populations (6). Predators such as raccoons, dogs, snapping turtles, skunks, foxes and other small mammals are responsible for the low recruitment of juveniles, preying most heavily on eggs and hatchlings, but occasionally also on adults (4) (6). Unfortunately, the spotted turtle's life history traits, namely high egg (and probably hatchling) mortality, low reproductive potential in the wild, delayed sexual maturity (7 to 14 years), balanced by a long potential adult breeding life, deem it highly vulnerable to population collapses when faced with these threats (2) (10). If adult survivorship is reduced through factors such as human exploitation, road mortality or increased predator levels, populations are inevitably unable to produce and successfully raise enough offspring to recover depleted numbers, leading eventually to local extinctions (2) (11).

Conservation Actions

Restoration Potential: Wetland restoration and landscape level planning can increase the connections among suitable habitat patches; this could help improve the security of existing populations. The natural reconstruction or human replacement of beaver dams, lesser impoundments, and channels may be beneficial, as all appear to have historically led to the creation of wetland complexes that this turtle favored (Carroll, pers. comm.).

Preserve Selection and Design Considerations: Preserves should be designed around wetland complexes and include adequate habitat for nesting and estivation. Priority should be given to habitat well-removed from paved and all but minimum-use dirt roads and buffered from commercial and incidental collecting. Nesting habitat should be extensive, varied, centrally located within the overall habitat, and buffered against human access and activity. Habitat integrity must be maintained and secured so that populations have the ability to disperse and interchange genes with other populations.

Management Requirements: Nesting habitat is conducive to protection, restoration, creation, and management (Carroll, pers. comm.). In nesting areas, setting back plant succession every 5 to 25 years would be beneficial. Preventing the invasion of non-native plants (purple loosestrife and common reed) and eradicating them from spotted turtle habitat is essential (Carroll, pers. comm.). Restoration of wetlands would be beneficial in some areas. Maintenance of high water quality is important; the degradation of water quality leads to a tendency to emigrate in search of more desirable habitat.

Headstarting of hatchlings is not recommended, except in cases of severest species decline (Carroll, pers. comm.). However, if practiced, hatchlings should be released at nest sites, rather than transporting them to wetlands.

Management Research Needs: Additional research is needed on habitat and minimum area requirements and habitat carrying capacity in different parts of the range. A study of the historic, current, and projected long-term status of the spotted turtle in the commercial cranberry bogs of southeastern Massachusetts would be beneficial (Carroll, pers. comm.). Data are needed on the actual or potential impacts of (a) the destruction of beaver dams and (b) pond and lake drawdowns. Demographic research is also needed. Greater knowledge of geomorphology and seasonal hydrology of the habitat would facilitate the preservation, maintenance, restoration, or possibly creation of activity centers and refugia that would allow the species to expand within, or be re-introduced into, larger wetland systems (Carroll, pers. comm.). Research is needed on the distance turtles will move to find these sites.

Biological Research Needs: Obtain better information on movement patterns, metapopulation structure and dynamics, and area/habitat requirements for viable populations. Monitor losses and fragmentation of wetlands; this could provide useful information on large-scale changes in habitat availability, which would suggest turtle population trend. Investigate the actual or potential impacts of the destruction of beaver dams and the effect of pond and lake draw-downs on spotted turtles and their habitat.

Global Protection: Few to several (1-12) occurrences appropriately protected and managed

Comments: Probably hundreds of small populations are included in areas with conservation ownership, but many or most of these likely do not encompass large metapopulation complexes that may be essential for adequate long-term protection.

Needs: Protect numerous existing viable populations and appropriate habitat, including wetlands, adjacent uplands, potential nesting areas, and corridors connecting nearby wetlands, in areas scattered throughout the range. Documentation and protection of overwintering and estivation sites and low-water refugia are important.

Spotted turtles are legally protected to some degree from exploitation in most states and provinces in which they are found, but protection is not yet consistent or universal over the turtle's range (2) (5). In Canada, the spotted turtle is listed as Endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) (2004) and is listed as a Specially Protected Reptile (Schedule 9) in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act (1997). In the U.S. the spotted turtle is not currently listed in the US Federal Endangered Species Act; however, it is listed in 22 of the states in which it occurs (2). Furthermore, there is insufficient protection of its wetland habitat, a matter which needs addressing if the species is to be given a good chance of long-term survival (4).

This turtle is harmless to human interests.

Clemmys guttata occupies a rather specialized ecological niche in habitats that are comparatively rare and biologically diverse. This small, brightly colored turtle is aesthetically appealing to humans, which unfortunately has resulted in a high demand for them in the commercial pet trade (see "Conservation" below).

Stewardship Overview: The spotted turtle is a small semi-aquatic turtle found in eastern North America. Increased development pressures (commercial and residential) in wetlands since European settlement have contributed to the national trend of decreasing populations. Habitat alteration/fragmentation and (locally) grazing are major threats. Commercial collecting for the pet trade is a serious threat to some populations. Stewardship needs include protection of existing populations and their wetland habitats, habitat restoration, and adequate monitoring of populations to detect population trends.

Species Impact: Not known to detrimentally impact other species to a significant extent.

Comments: Molecular data and morphological evidence indicate that the genus Clemmys (sensu McDowell 1964) is paraphyletic (see Bickham et al. 1996, Holman and Fritz 2001, Feldman and Parham 2002). Based on morphological data, Holman and Fritz (2001) split Clemmys as follows: Clemmys guttata was retained as the only member of the genus; Clemmys insculpta and C. muhlenbergii were placed in the genus Glyptemys (as first reviser, Holman and Fritz gave Glyptemys Agassiz, 1857, precedence over the simultaneously published genus Calemys Agassiz, 1857); and Clemmys marmorata was transferred to the monotypic genus Actinemys.

Genetic data support the basic features of this arrangement. An analysis of emydid relationships based on molecular data (Feldman and Parham 2002) identified four well-supported clades: Terrapene; Clemmys guttata; C. insculpta and C. muhlenbergii; and Clemmys marmorata, Emys orbicularis, and Emydoidea blandingii. Feldman and Parham retained Clemmys guttata as the only member of that genus; regarded Clemmys marmorata, Emys orbicularis, and Emydoidea blandingii as congeneric (in the genus Emys, which has priority); and placed C. insculpta and C. muhlenbergii in the genus Calemys. However, Feldman and Parham were unaware that Holman and Fritz (2001) had given Glyptemys precedence over Calemys, so the correct generic name for these turtles under the arrangement of Feldman and Parham is Glyptemys. In contrast to Holman and Fritz (2001), Feldman and Parham (2002) argued that placing Clemmys marmorata in the monotypic genus Actinemys would unnecessarily obscure its phylogenetic relationships, and they recommended that marmorata be included in the genus Emys.

See also McDowell (1964), Merkle (1975), Lovich et al. (1991), and Bickham et al. (1996) for information on relationships among turtles of the genus Clemmys (sensu lato).