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Common map turtle

Graptemys geographica · Turtles · Reptiles

Common map turtle (Graptemys geographica): Carapace olive or grayish brown with yellow-orange map-like lines bordered in dark; markings fade with age. Broad carapace with a moderately low keel and slightly scalloped rear edge. 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.

Common map turtle resting on stones in shallow water
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Scientific name
Graptemys geographica
Family
Emydidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southwestern Quebec, southern Ontario and northwestern Vermont to central Minnesota, south through the Mississippi drainage to Arkansas, northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee, west to eastern Kansas; Ohio River drainage; isolated populations in the Delaware, Susquehanna and Hudson drainages.
Biology

How to identify it

Carapace olive or grayish brown with yellow-orange map-like lines bordered in dark; markings fade with age. [1][2]

Broad carapace with a moderately low keel and slightly scalloped rear edge. [1][2]

Head, neck and limbs dark with thin yellow, green or orange stripes, usually with an oval spot behind the eye. [1][2]

Females much larger (7-10.5 in) than males (3.5-6.5 in); males have narrower heads, longer front claws and thicker tails. [1][2]

Plain yellowish plastron in adults. [1][2]

Compared with the false map turtle: Lines form a web on the shell and a backward L behind the eye. [1][2]

Compared with the ouachita map turtle: Large blotch below the eye and dark-ringed blotches on the scutes. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a common map turtle before you act. Compared with the false map turtle: Lines form a web on the shell and a backward L behind the eye.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Slow rivers and lakes with mud bottoms, basking logs and abundant aquatic vegetation; also mill ponds and oxbows. Basks on logs and muskrat houses. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Avid baskers, often in groups, and very wary: slips into the water at the slightest alarm. [1][2]

Dormant about November to early April, wedged under submerged logs, in bottom mud or in burrows. [1][2]

Females eat mainly mollusks and crayfish; males more insectivorous. [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

Southwestern Quebec, southern Ontario and northwestern Vermont to central Minnesota, south through the Mississippi drainage to Arkansas, northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee, west to eastern Kansas; Ohio River drainage; isolated populations in the Delaware, Susquehanna and Hudson drainages.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology