Posted by:
StephF
at Sun Jun 19 10:06:24 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by StephF ]
Thatnks for posting the view with a measure in it.
OK, so it looks like she's about 6 inches long, or about 15cm.
Ernst, Lovich , and Barbour in 'Turtles of the US and Canada' state that ornates get to 15.4 cm carapace length, whereas the gulf coast get to be up to 21.6cm.
I'm certainly no authority on the subject, but it seems to me that this turtle is within the size range for ornates, based on what we can see from the photo with the yardstick in the frame.
Also, based on my observation of easterns, older turtles do take on a flattened apperance. If ornates show the same flattening, then could this be a senoir citizen?
Our easterns also show widely varying degrees of marginal scute flaring and coloration and patterning, so, it seems to me that shell shape and/or coloration alone is a poor indicator of species.
She's certainly a beauty.
Regards,
Stephanie
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