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Ouachita map turtle

Graptemys ouachitensis · Turtles · Reptiles

Ouachita map turtle (Graptemys ouachitensis): Olive-green carapace with one to six black blotches on the rear of each scute, ringed yellow or orange; rings fade with age. Yellow or cream plastron with dark green swirls. 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 ouachitensis
Family
Emydidae
In North America
Native
Range
Mississippi and St. Croix river basins from Minnesota and Wisconsin south through Louisiana, west to eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, east into Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Olive-green carapace with one to six black blotches on the rear of each scute, ringed yellow or orange; rings fade with age. [1][2]

Yellow or cream plastron with dark green swirls. [1][2]

Dark green head with yellow markings; a large blotch below each eye joins two narrow lines. [1][2]

Keels prominent in juveniles and males, blunted in females. [1][2]

Females 120-260 mm carapace, males 90-178 mm. [1][2]

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

Compared with the common map turtle: Fine map-like lines over the shell 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 ouachita map turtle before you act. Compared with the false map turtle: Lines form a web over the shell; often a backward L behind the eye.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Mainly rivers (also impoundments) with submerged vegetation and basking logs or rocks; nests on sandbars and beaches within about 100 m of water. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal; basks in groups, then feeds from mid-morning, alternating feeding and basking. [1][2]

Does not migrate; brumates near moderate current behind logs or rocks from late October to mid-April. [1][2]

Eats vegetation, aquatic insects and some mollusks and carrion; females eat more vegetation. [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 St. Croix river basins from Minnesota and Wisconsin south through Louisiana, west to eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, east into Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. 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