---
title: "Southern Painted Turtle"
description: "Chrysemys dorsalis — Reptiles. The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is North America's most widespread native turtle, with a rich evolutionary history that stretches back 15 million years."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/southern-painted-turtle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Southern Painted Turtle

> Chrysemys dorsalis — Reptiles. The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is North America's most widespread native turtle, with a rich evolutionary history that stretches back 15 million years.

- Scientific name: *Chrysemys dorsalis*
- Category: `reptiles` (Reptiles)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 685
- Wikidata: [Q27671661](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27671661)
- iNaturalist taxon: [194100](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/194100)

## Names

- en: Southern Painted Turtle
- de: Südliche Zierschildkröte
- es: Tortuga pintada del Sur
- fr: Chrysémyde peinte du Sud

## Countries with the most observations

US (590), DE (7)

## Summary

The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is North America's most widespread native turtle, with a rich evolutionary history that stretches back 15 million years. As resilient survivors belonging to the pond turtle family Emydidae, these turtles adapted creatively to the planet's changing climate. During the last Ice Age, they split into distinct groups and evolved into three regionally unique subspecies: the Eastern painted turtle (found along the Atlantic coast), the Midland painted turtle (living around the Great Lakes), and the Western painted turtle (the largest group, spanning the west coast and Canada). Scientists…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_turtle

## Photo

![Southern Painted Turtle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/southern-painted-turtle/medium.jpg)

Photo: dbugs · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79805546

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/southern-painted-turtle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).