Texas river cooter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Texas river cooter
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Pseudemys
Species:	texana
Synonyms
Pseudemys texana Baur, 1893 Chrysemys texana Ditmars, 1907 Pseudemys floridana texana Carr, 1938 Pseudemys concinna texana Conant, 1958 Chrysemys concinna texana Smith & Taylor, 1966 Chrysemys concinna texaba Gosławski & Hryniewicz, 1993 (ex errore)

The Texas river cooter (Pseudemys texana) is a type of freshwater turtle. It lives only in the state of Texas, United States. You can find these turtles in the rivers and streams of the Brazos, San Bernard, Colorado, Guadalupe, San Antonio, and Nueces river systems.

The Texas river cooter is one of three kinds of cooter turtles found in Texas. The other two are the Rio Grande cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) and the River cooter (Pseudemys concinna). Cooters are a group of turtles known for living in rivers and ponds.

What Does a Texas River Cooter Look Like?

The Texas river cooter is a fairly large turtle. Its shell can grow to be more than 12 inches (30.5 cm) long. These turtles are usually green. They have yellow and black markings on their shells and skin. These markings tend to fade and become less bright as the turtle gets older.

You can tell male and female Texas river cooters apart by a few features. Males usually have longer tails and longer claws on their front feet. They are also generally smaller in size compared to females.

How Is the Texas River Cooter Classified?

Scientists classify living things into groups. The Texas river cooter was once thought to be a subspecies of another turtle, the eastern cooter (Pseudemys concinna). However, in 1991, scientists decided it was different enough to be its own full species. This means it's now recognized as a unique type of turtle.

What Other Turtles Look Similar?

Texas cooter (Pseudemys texana) on the left, and a red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta) on the right. They are basking in the Colorado River, Texas.

The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) lives in the same areas and has similar habits. But it's easy to tell them apart! Red-eared sliders have bright red patches on each side of their heads. Texas river cooters do not have these red patches.

Young Texas river cooters can also look a lot like different kinds of map turtles. However, map turtles usually have ridges or bumps on their shells that cooters do not.

Images for kids

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  A Texas river cooter.