Field Guide

The midland smooth softshell is a rather plain-looking softshell turtle, with a smooth, rather featureless olive-gray or brown shell, and a light stripe bordered by black extending backward from each eye.

The three-toed box turtle usually has three hind toes. Its high-domed shell usually has a top ridge and is olive or brown with faint yellow or orange lines. Look for it in woodland habitats.

The northern map turtle is a medium-sized aquatic species with a low ridge along the center of the upper shell. A small yellow spot is present behind each eye. It occurs mainly in the Ozarks and the upper Mississippi River in northeastern Missouri.

The Ouachita map turtle is a medium-sized aquatic species with a prominent ridge down the center of the upper shell and bright yellow lines on the head and limbs. A large yellow marking behind each eye extends, narrowing, on top of the head. It occurs in southern and eastern Missouri.

Missouri has two subspecies of false map turtle. The northern false map turtle occurs in the Missouri River in central and northwestern Missouri and the upper Mississippi River. The Mississippi map turtle occurs in the lower Mississippi River, southern Ozark rivers, and southwestern Missouri.

The western chicken turtle is a small to medium-sized turtle with an oval shell and extremely long neck. It is endangered in Missouri, occurring only in the Mississippi Lowlands in the extreme southeastern part of the state.

The western painted turtle is a small, brightly colored aquatic turtle. The upper shell is smooth and has a red-orange outer edge. The colorful lower shell has a prominent pattern of brown markings. It is found nearly everywhere in the state except the southeast region.

Although well equipped for an aquatic existence, the Mississippi mud turtle spends as much time wandering about on land as it does in water. Look for it in the Mississippi Lowlands of Missouri’s Bootheel.

The green frog looks similar to a bullfrog but is smaller and has a ridge of skin along the sides of the back that is not found on bullfrogs. It is a game animal in Missouri.

The northern leopard frog is a medium-sized frog with dark spots on the back. Two skin folds run down each side of the back. In Missouri, it only occurs in a few northwestern counties along the Iowa border.