Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This was given to me as subrufa, which I'm 99% sure she's not. I'm leaning toward carinatus due to the lack of cusp like structures on the upper jaw and the presence of barbels on the chin. I'd thought the turtle was male but found her laying infertile eggs today...go figure. I thought that plastron looked male.
I tried to get a head shot but Rupert would NOT cooperate.

head is speckled with a grey background color. There is no cusp like structure, but there are two prominent barbels on the chin. Has 5 vertebrals on the carapace. I've looked at diagrams of the plastron and carapace for both castaneus and carinatus. and rupert doesn't seem to match either exactly. The carapace is a closer match to castaneus but the upper jaw doesn't have the structures everyone tells me are a defining trait of that species, and his plastron looks more like carinatus, particularly those parts of the plastron right up towards his head (forget their technical term. bleh).

I'd describe the shell as slightly domed--you can't tell in the photo but it's a bit less than 1/2 as tall as long.

You have a Pelusios castaneus.

Danny

But what about the cusp on the upper jaw? I thought cast. had two visible cusp on the upper jaw. This group of turtles is freaking confusing, but ruby's a cool little lady.

And does that plastron look like a male to you too, or was that just me not having experience with turtles?

They don't always have well defined cusps.

The plastron looks female to me as well as the small tail.

Danny

cool I'm glad to know what I have...guess I really am new to turtles :lol:

I'm enjoying them though, by far the most entertaining herps to just sit and watch.