CHS Blog

The Enigmatic Morphology of a Male Painted Turtle

May 10, 2020
Patrick Moldowan
A male Painted Turtle with prominent carapacial projections and tomiodonts (Photo: Cortney LeGros)

I once met a Painted Turtle from Estaire,
he was male and without so much as a care.
When plucked from the muck,
he said, "oh shucks"
and recoiled inside his shell flare.

"What are those carapacial projections?" I exclaimed.
"They are for bashing mates and rivals," he would say.
"And those tomiodonts too?"
"I was 26 when they grew"
The enigmatic morphology of a male Painted Turtle.

Inspired by recent research from the long-term turtle study at the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station, Algonquin Provincial Park:

Hawkshaw*, D., Moldowan*, P.D., Brooks, R.J., and Litzgus, J.D, and Rollinson, N. 2019.  Discovery and description of a novel sexual weapon in the world’s most widely-studied freshwater turtle. Evolutionary Ecology 33(6): 889–900.  *equal contributions

Other relevant reading:

Moldowan, P.D., Brooks, R.J., and Litzgus, J.D. 2020. Demographics of injuries indicate sexual coercion in a population of Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 98(4): 269–278.

Moldowan, P.D., Brooks, R.J., and Litzgus, J.D. 2016. Quantification of cranial and tomiodont dimorphism in Testudines using the Midland Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta marginata. Zoomorphology 135(4): 499-510.

Moldowan, P.D., Brooks, R.J., and Litzgus, J.D.  2016. Turtles with “teeth”: beak morphology of Testudines with a focus on the tomiodonts of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys spp.). Zoomorphology 135(1): 121-135.