Yesterday, at the recycling center, we spotted this Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta). It was in a very bad spot between a woven wire fence and a busy road, so we rescued it and brought it home to release in the lake behind our house. There are four subspecies of the Painted Turtle. This one is identified as the Eastern subspecies by the fact that the vertebral scutes (those plates on its upper shell that are aligned down the top of its shell) and the costal scutes (the large plates that are aligned along the side of its shell) meet in nearly straight lines across the width of its upper shell.
The underside view shows the plain colored plastron (lower segment of the shell) and the bright red markings (suggestive of paint) on the marginal scutes of the upper shell.
The head view of a Painted Turtle shows that its upper jaw has a central notch flanked by two cusps or pseudoteeth.
My dear neighbor, I love all your postings but especially enjoyed the one about the Tagged Painted Turtle, because you rescued it! As you know, I’m an animal lover & that includes turtles in this instance.
Thanks. We always try to rescue turtles when it seems in their best interest.