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Mississippi map turtle

Graptemys pseudogeographica · Turtles · Reptiles

Mississippi map turtle (Graptemys pseudogeographica): Olive, brown or black carapace with dark blotches ringed by yellow lines that may form a web over the shell; brighter in young. Serrate carapace margin with a vertebral keel most prominent in young. 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
Graptemys pseudogeographica
Family
Emydidae
In North America
Native
Range
Mississippi and Missouri river basins from northern and central Wisconsin and Minnesota south through Louisiana and eastern Texas, west along the Missouri into North Dakota, east to western Tennessee, western Kentucky, Indiana and central Ohio. Introduced in southeastern Virginia. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Olive, brown or black carapace with dark blotches ringed by yellow lines that may form a web over the shell; brighter in young. [1][2]

Serrate carapace margin with a vertebral keel most prominent in young. [1][2]

Cream to yellow plastron; young have a dark pattern. [1][2]

Yellow lines on legs, tail, chin and neck; some have a backward L behind each eye. [1][2]

Males 9-15 cm, females 12-27 cm; males have elongated second and third front claws. [1][2]

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

Compared with the common map turtle: Map-like lines and an oval spot behind the eye. [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 mississippi map turtle before you act. Compared with the ouachita map turtle: Large blotch below the eye and ringed blotches on the scutes.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Large rivers of the Mississippi basin with abundant vegetation, also lakes, ponds, reservoirs and sloughs; nests on sandbars and beaches. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Spends most of the day basking on lodges, logs, rocks, bars or stumps near shore; very wary. [1][2]

Active roughly late March to mid-October; hibernates in bottom mud or behind rocks and logs. [1][2]

Generalist omnivore eating insects, mollusks, fish carrion and aquatic plants. [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

Mississippi and Missouri river basins from northern and central Wisconsin and Minnesota south through Louisiana and eastern Texas, west along the Missouri into North Dakota, east to western Tennessee, western Kentucky, Indiana and central Ohio. Introduced in southeastern Virginia. Not in Canada.

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