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Arizona mud turtle

Kinosternon arizonense · Turtles · Reptiles

Arizona mud turtle (Kinosternon arizonense): Dome-shaped carapace that lacks keels, brown, olive or yellow-brown; plastron and marginal rim yellow. Top of head grey; underside and sides of head cream to light yellow. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Kinosternon arizonense
Family
Kinosternidae
In North America
Native
Range
Arizona in the United States (NatureServe lists AZ only) and Sonora, Mexico.
Biology

How to identify it

Dome-shaped carapace that lacks keels, brown, olive or yellow-brown; plastron and marginal rim yellow. [1][2]

Top of head grey; underside and sides of head cream to light yellow. [1][2]

No patterns on the limbs. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Prefers temporary ponds and puddles; found in Sonoran desert scrub and semidesert grassland. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Active by day, and also at night in the July-August monsoon; spends most of that period in water. [1][2]

Hibernates in a burrow in winter; in drought can stay dormant underground for up to two years. [1][2]

Eats frogs, tadpoles, toads, fish, aquatic invertebrates and carrion. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Arizona in the United States (NatureServe lists AZ only) and Sonora, Mexico.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Wikipedia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wikipedia