Sternotherus is a genus of aquatic turtles, known commonly as musk turtles, in the family Kinosternidae. The genus is endemic to North America and is closely related to Kinosternon.[2]
The generic name Sternotherus is Greek meaning hinged breast or chest, referring to the hinged plastron.[3] The trivial names, or specific epithets include: carinatus – Latin for keeled in reference to the shape of the carapace;[4] depressus – Latin for pressed down or low also referring to the shape of the carapace;[5] intermedius – Latin for intermediate, historically believed to be a hybrid from between S. minor and S. peltifer;[6] minor – Latin referencing its relatively small size compared to S. carinatus;[7] odoratus – Latin for having an odor, referring the smell of the musk produced by its scent glands;[8] peltifer – Latin meaning bearing a small shield, in reference to the small size of the scutes on the bridge the species.[2]: 647-648 pp. [7]
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Sternotherus.
Turtles in the genus Sternotherus are very similar to the American mud turtles in the genus Kinosternon, but tend to have a more domed carapace, with a distinctive keel down the center of it. Sternotherus odoratus typically grows to only 8–14 cm (3.1–5.5 in) in straight carapace length at full maturity, with females often being larger than males.
The genus Sternotherus is endemic to North America. It occurs in the approximant eastern third of the USA and extreme southeast Ontario, Canada. The eastern musk turtle (S. odoratus), the most wide-ranging species of the genus, occurs in southern Maine, south to Florida, west into eastern Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and north to southeast Wisconsin, southern Michigan, and the Great Lakes region of southern Ontario. It is generally absent from higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains.
The other species in the genus largely occur within the southern regions of the eastern musk turtle's range. Two species have relatively limited distributions, the flattened musk turtle (S. depressus) is endemic to north-central Alabama in the Black Warrior River basin above the fall line, and the intermediate musk turtle (S. intermedius) is found in southeastern Alabama and adjacent areas of the Florida panhandle in the Choctawhatchee, Conecuh, Yellow, Pea, Blackwater, and Escambia rivers. The razor-backed musk turtle (S. carinatus) occurs throughout Louisiana, and neighboring areas of Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The loggerhead musk turtle (S. minor) is found in extreme southeast Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida. The stripe-necked musk turtle (S. peltifer) predominantly occurs in Alabama and Mississippi with some peripheral records from Georgia, and Louisiana, and ranging into northern watersheds in eastern Tennessee with marginal records from North Carolina, and Virginia. [17][6]