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Yellow mud turtle

Kinosternon flavescens · Turtles · Reptiles

Yellow mud turtle (Kinosternon flavescens): Small turtle, adults about 10-16 cm carapace length; smooth olive to brown carapace with no ornamentation. Yellow chin (throat too in most areas), yellowish cheeks; four pairs of barbels on the throat. 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 flavescens
Family
Kinosternidae
In North America
Native
Range
South-central United States from Nebraska to southeastern Arizona, with an isolated population in Illinois-Iowa-Missouri; also northern Mexico.
Biology

How to identify it

Small turtle, adults about 10-16 cm carapace length; smooth olive to brown carapace with no ornamentation. [1][2]

Yellow chin (throat too in most areas), yellowish cheeks; four pairs of barbels on the throat. [1][2]

Plastron black except where worn, with two well-developed transverse hinges; strongly webbed feet. [1][2]

Male: slightly concave plastron, long thick spine-tipped tail; female: short stubby tail, flat plastron. [1][2]

Emits a disagreeable musk odour when disturbed. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Quiet or slow water with soft mud or sand bottom in grassland and open woodland, often temporary water; in arid regions in cattle tanks and ditches. [1][2]

Seeks shelter underground on land or burrows in mud underwater. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal in spring, crepuscular and nocturnal in summer; hibernates in winter and estivates in the hottest part of summer. [1][2]

Seasonally aquatic then terrestrial: in the Illinois-Iowa-Missouri population turtles leave drying ponds in July-August and may be active under 100 days a year. [1][2]

Often travels overland; adults wander about 190-220 m from water. [1][2]

Omnivore: insects, mollusks, crustaceans, amphibian larvae, carrion and some 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

South-central United States from Nebraska to southeastern Arizona, with an isolated population in Illinois-Iowa-Missouri; also northern Mexico.

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