endemic to a single nation

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

endemic to a single nation

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)) Coastal Plain from Virginia to southern Florida, west to southern Alabama (Conant and Collins 1991, Seidel and Dreslik 1996).

Continent: North-America
Distribution: USA (along the Atlantic Coastal Plain in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and west across the Gulf Coastal Plain in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, E Texas, Oklahoma, SE Kansas, Arkansas, S Missouri, SW Indiana, W Kentucky, W Tennessee, Virginia)

Length: 40 cm

Comments: Large ponds, lakes, spring runs, canals, sluggish rivers; areas with abundant aquatic vegetation, soft bottom, and basking sites. Burrows in mud in winter. Generally sleeps on bottom or among aquatic plants at night. Wanders on land. Eggs are laid in nests dug in soft soil in open areas. See Bodie et al. (1996) for information on nest site selection.

Non-Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species do not make significant seasonal migrations. Juvenile dispersal is not considered a migration.

Locally Migrant: No. No 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.

Comments: Adults eat mainly aquatic plants; young take animal food, become less animalivorous with age (Ernst and Barbour 1972).

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

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

10,000 to >1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Hibernates in winter in north, moderately active except during cold spells in south. Primarily diurnal, but may sometimes forage at night (Ernst and Barbour 1972).

Lays clutch(es) of 12-29 eggs, generally May to July but year round in Florida (Ashton and Ashton 1985). May be additional nests containing 1-3 eggs next to main nest. Eggs hatch in 80-150 days. Hatchlings may commonly overwinter in nest (Jackson 1994).

Rounded Global Status Rank: T5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Intrinsic Vulnerability: Highly to moderately vulnerable.

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

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 50%

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed

Comments: This species sometimes has been placed in the genus Chrysemys. It is regarded by some as the sister species of P. concinna, from which it is distinct morphologically (markings) and reproductively (at least in some areas).

Based on a morphometric analysis, Seidel (1994) recommended that floridana be regarded as a subspecies of P. concinna, with nominal P. c. suwanniensis and P. f. peninsularis recognized as full species. Seidel (1994) concluded that, due to clinal variation, nominal subspecies hieroglyphica, metteri, and mobilensis are unworthy of taxonomic recognition. Jackson (1995) presented an alternative taxonomic evaluation and strongly recommended that suwanniensis and peninsularis be retained as populations or subspecies of the distinct species P. concinna and P. floridana, respectively. See Seidel (1995) for a rebuttal. Seidel and Dreslik (1996) followed the taxonomic arrangement of Seidel (1994) except that suwanniensis was treated as a subspecies of P. concinna. Seidel and Ernst (1998), Crother et al. (2000), and Crother (2008) recognized peninsularis as a species. Jackson (2006) regarded suwanniensis and peninsularis as populations or subspecies of the distinct species P. concinna and P. floridana, respectively. Thomas and Jansen (2006) acknowledged the taxonomic debate while recognizing P. floridana as a species and P. f. peninsularis as a subspecies. Further study is needed to resolve these taxonomic discrepancies.

In the Atlantic drainages of the east-central United States, P. rubriventris is morphologically distinct from P. floridana and P. concinna, though in the southern part of its range P. rubriventris is somewhat morphologically convergent with floridana; this may reflect hybridization or convergent evolution (Seidel and Palmer 1991).