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Sonora mud turtle

Kinosternon sonoriense · Turtles · Reptiles

Sonora mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense): Small, mostly aquatic turtle; olive-green to olive-brown shell mottled with dark spots; adult carapace 75-150 mm. Yellow plastron, greyish-black legs, usually a yellow line along the edge of the front legs. 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.

Sonora mud turtle in shallow muddy water
Adobe Stock · Standard License (asset 1966219466)
Scientific name
Kinosternon sonoriense
Family
Kinosternidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern and central Arizona and southwestern New Mexico (Catron, Grant, Hidalgo counties), south into Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; considered extirpated from California.
Biology

How to identify it

Small, mostly aquatic turtle; olive-green to olive-brown shell mottled with dark spots; adult carapace 75-150 mm. [1][2][3]

Yellow plastron, greyish-black legs, usually a yellow line along the edge of the front legs. [1][2][3]

Green-grey head with dark side stripes and dark spots on chin and crown. [1][2][3]

Plastron hinged front and rear, long chin barbels, webbed feet (as described for the Sonoyta subspecies). [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Streams, springs, ponds and pools in intermittent streams, from desert to oak, pinyon-juniper and pine woodland; in southeastern Arizona about 90% of captures were in stock tanks. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Solitary outside breeding, with overlapping home ranges and very high local densities (over 3,000 per hectare recorded in New Mexico). [1][2][3]

Most active in summer monsoon, least active in winter; may estivate on land 11-34 days and move overland up to 8 km. [1][2][3]

Eats snails, fish, frogs, crayfish, aquatic insects and occasionally lizards and snakes. [1][2][3]

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.

Conservation and protection

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

Southern and central Arizona and southwestern New Mexico (Catron, Grant, Hidalgo counties), south into Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; considered extirpated from California.

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

  3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service