Terrapene ornata ornata
(Agassiz 1857)
Franklin Co., Missouri. Spring 1974.
These tough little turtles are inhabitants of fields, glades and prairies, and most of the ornata I’ve seen have been in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. Despite the dryness of their habitat, Ornates require some degree of humidity, as do other species of box turtles. They usually dig a ‘scrape’ under a bush, a rock, or in some other sheltered area, deep enough where the soil has more moisture that the dry topsoil. There they rest during the heat of the day, and at night. Ornates are somewhat smaller than other species of Terrapene. The specimens pictured here are from an Illinois sand prairie, and the Flint Hills of Kansas.
My Flickr album for this species is here.
HerpMapper records for this species are here.
