What is "spotted turtle"

Terrapin \Ter"ra*pin\, n. [Probably of American Indian origin.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of tortoises living in fresh and brackish waters. Many of them are valued for food. [Written also terapin, terrapen, terrapene, turpen, and turapen.]

Note: The yellow-bellied terrapin ( Pseudemys scabra) of the Southern United States, the red-bellied terrapin ( Pseudemys rugosa or Chrysemys rubriventris), native of the tributaries Chesapeake Bay (called also potter, slider, and redfender), and the diamond-back or salt-marsh terrapin ( Malaclemmys palustris), are the most important American species. The diamond-back terrapin is native of nearly the whole of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

Alligator terrapin, the snapping turtle.

Mud terrapin, any one of numerous species of American tortoises of the genus Cinosternon.

Painted terrapin, the painted turtle. See under Painted.

Speckled terrapin, a small fresh-water American terrapin ( Chelopus guttatus) having the carapace black with round yellow spots; -- called also spotted turtle.

The spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), the only extant species of Clemmys, is a small, semi-aquatic turtle that reaches a carapace length of upon adulthood. Their broad, smooth, low dark-colored upper shell, or carapace, ranges in its exact colour from black to a bluish black with a number of yellow tiny round spots. The spotting patterning extends from the head, to the neck and out onto the limbs. Males and females can be distinguished by differences in plastron shape and eye and chin colouration.

Spotted turtles are aquatic omnivores that inhabit a variety of semi-aquatic or in other words, shallow, fresh-water areas such as flooded forests, marshes, wet meadows, bogs and woodland streams in southern Canada ( Ontario) and the eastern US: the eastern Great Lakes and east of the Appalachian Mountains.