The Small Musk Turtle is a medium-sized (about 6-10 cm.) Freshwater turtle of the Silt tortoise family. Inhabits the United States from southwest Virginia , eastern Tennessee , southeast Alabama and central Georgia to Florida .
| Musk turtle |
Subspecies S. minor peltifer |
| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Superfamily : | Kinosternoidea |
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| International scientific name |
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Sternotherus minor ( Agassiz , 1857) |
| Synonyms |
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- Sternotherus minor minor [1]
- Goniochelys minor Agassiz, 1857
- Aromochelys minor
Strauch , 1862 - Sternotherus minor
Stejneger , 1923 - Sternotherus carinatus minor
Carr , 1952 - Sternotherus minor minor
Tinkle & Webb , 1955 - Sternothaerus minor minor
Tinkle, 1958 - Sternotheraerus minor minor
Wharton & Howard, 1971 - Kinosternon minor
Iverson , Ernst , Gotte & Lovich , 1989 - Kinosternon minor minor
Ernst & R. Barbour , 1989
- Sternotherus minor peltifer [1]
- Sternotherus peltifer
HM Smith & Glass, 1947 - Sternotherus carinatus peltifer
Carr, 1952 - Sternotherus minor peltifer
Tinkle & Webb, 1955 - Sternothaerus minor peltifer
Tinkle, 1958 - Kinosternon minor peltifer
Ernst & R. Barbour, 1989
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| Subspecies |
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- S. m. peltifer (Agassiz, 1857)
- S. m. minor HM Smith & Glass, 1947
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| Security status |
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Least ConcernedIUCN 3.1 Least Concern : 170493 |
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Includes two subspecies, one of the subspecies ( S. m. Depressus ) was isolated in a separate species Sternotherus depressus .
The carapace is oval with a brown-olive mottled upper side, in young animals with three pronounced longitudinal ridges, disappearing with age. Subspecies S. m. peltifer reaches a maximum length of 11.7 cm; S. m. minor is slightly larger - 14.5 cm.
Small plastron with a single ligament-hinge, with a throat shield, pink or yellow. There are dark stripes on the head. In males, the tail is wide with a spine at the end, in females a short tail, not farther than the edge of the carapace.
It inhabits a variety of rivers, streams, swamps, channels. In the north of the range in winter they hibernate, burying themselves in silt. It feeds on invertebrates, mollusks, and fish.
Life expectancy is 20–23 years.
The female reaches puberty at the age of 5–9 years, males - at 4 years. Mating period: from March to June, in May - June, the first clutches appear. The female can lay eggs up to 4 times per season, 2-3 eggs per laying.
Eggs up to 3 cm long with a transparent pink shell, whitening as the embryo develops. The incubation period is 13-16 weeks, depending on temperature.
The length of the carapace of hatched turtles is 2.2–2.7 cm.
Often bred in terrariums, the species reproduces well in captivity [2] .
