Yellow-belly Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) female

Straight Carapace Length (SCL) = 9"
Maximum Carapace Width (MCW) = 7"
Weight = 9 lbs
Gender = female
Named: Swannee
Comments:
   - attractive, unblemished female

   - found in northern Florida (near Perry) and relocated to safety while crossing a highway

   - I couldn't decide whether this turtle was a Cooter or a Yellow-belly Slider, so I consulted with Eric Holt at Empire of the Turtle
     • note carapace coloring (black, dark olive, with yellow piping) and markings
     • note yellow plastron with only four small patches of black
     • rear legs are greyish black on top with blotches of yellow underneath
     • front legs are greyish black with one thin yellow stripe and one wider yellow stripe
     • broad yellow bands runs diagonally from behind eyes toward angle of jaw
     • shell profile is more rounded (like a Cooter), less flattened, than that of the Red-ear Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

   - Definitive features:
     • vertical stripes on the rump that only it and the chicken turtle have
     • (the chicken turtle has broader stripes on front legs and different shell markings)
     • the broad yellow crescent behind the eyes is the most defining marking
     • the two markings on the front of the plastron are pretty common in this subspecies
     • in some areas the plastron is more marked