View source for Biology:Common box turtle

{{Short description|Species of turtle}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Terrapene carolinaHolbrookV1P02.jpg
| image_caption = 1842 drawing
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{cite iucn|author=van Dijk, P.P.|title=''Terrapene carolina''|page=e.T21641A97428179|year=2011|errata=2016|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T21641A9303747.en|access-date=25 June 2023}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A2 
| status2_system = CITES 
| status2_ref = <ref name="CITES-Appendices">{{cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref>
| genus = Terrapene
| species = carolina
| authority = ([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Biology:10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms = *''Testudo carolina'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small>
*''Testudo clausa'' <small>[[Biography:Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1789</small>
*''Terrapene carolina'' <small>Bell, 1825</small>
| synonyms_ref = <ref name="Fritz2007">{{cite journal|journal=Vertebrate Zoology |title=Checklist of Chelonians of the World |year=2007 |author=Fritz Uwe |author2=Peter Havaš |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=198 |doi=10.3897/vz.57.e30895 |s2cid=87809001 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
}}

The '''common box turtle''' ('''''Terrapene carolina''''') is a [[Biology:Species|species]] of [[Biology:Box turtle|box turtle]] with six existing [[Biology:Subspecies|subspecies]]. It is found throughout the Eastern United States and Mexico. The box turtle has a distinctive hinged lowered shell (the box) that allows it to completely enclose itself. Its upper jaw is long . 
The turtle is primarily terrestrial and eats a wide variety of plants and animals. The females lay their eggs in the summer. Turtles in the northern part of their range hibernate over the winter.

Common box turtle numbers are declining because of habitat loss, [[Biology:Roadkill|roadkill]], and capture for the pet trade. The species is classified as [[Biology:Vulnerable species|vulnerable]] to threats to its survival by the [[Organization:IUCN Red List|IUCN Red List]]. Three states have chosen subspecies of the common box turtle as their official state reptile: ''[[Biology:Eastern box turtle|T. c. carolina]]'' in North Carolina and Tennessee and ''[[Biology:Three-toed box turtle|T. c. triunguis]]'' in Missouri.

==Classification==
''Terrapene carolina'' was first described by [[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Carl Linnaeus]] in his landmark 1758 [[Biology:10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'']]. It is the [[Biology:Type species|type species]] for the genus ''Terrapene'' and has more subspecies than the other three species within that genus. The eastern box turtle subspecies was the one recognized by Linnaeus. The other five subspecies were first classified during the 19th century.<ref name="Fritz196"/> In addition, one extinct subspecies, ''T. c. putnami'', is distinguished.<ref name="Dodd26"/>

;Subspecies

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Image
!Country
!Species
!Scientific name
!Classified by
!Year
|-
|[[File:Eastern Box Turtle-27527-1.jpg|120px]]
|United States
|Eastern box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina carolina''
|([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]])
|[[Biology:10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
|-
|[[File:Box Turtle, NPSPhoto, R. Cammauf (9254982287).jpg|120px]]
|United States
|Florida box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina bauri''
|<!--NOT Edward Harrison-->Taylor
|1895
|-
|[[File:Terrapene carolina major 02.JPG|120px]]
|United States
|Gulf Coast box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina major''
|(Agassiz)
|1857
|-
|[[File:Three-Toed Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis) (15064482276).jpg|120px]]
|United States
|Three-toed box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina triunguis''
|(Agassiz)
|1857
|-
|[[File:Emydidae - Terrapene mexicana (Mexican Box Turtle) (2).jpg|120px]]
|Mexico
|Mexican box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina mexicana''
|(Gray)
|1849
|-
|[[File:Terrapene carolina yucatana.jpg|120px]]
|Mexico
|Yucatán box turtle
|''Terrapene carolina yucatana''
|(Boulenger)
|1895
|-
|
|North America
|(no common name)
|{{extinct}}''Terrapene carolina putnami''
|<!--O.P.--> O.P. Hay
|1906
|}

Parentheses around the name of an authority indicate that he originally described the subspecies in a [[Biology:Genus|genus]] other than ''Terrapene''.

==Description==
[[File:Terrapene fg02a.jpg|thumb|left|alt=hand holding a turtle up so that we see the bottom of it. It has a pleated look with noticeable hinging and bending of the lower shell, running crosswise.|The hinges of the box turtle's lower shell]]

The common box turtle (''Terrapene carolina'') gets its common name from the structure of its shell which consists of a high domed [[Biology:Carapace|carapace]] (upper shell), and large, hinged plastron (lower shell) which allows the turtle to close the shell, sealing its vulnerable head and limbs safely within an impregnable box.<ref name=Capula/> The carapace is brown, often adorned with a variable pattern of orange or yellow lines, spots, bars or blotches. The plastron is dark brown and may be uniformly coloured, or show darker blotches or smudges.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/>

The common box turtle has a small to moderately sized head and a distinctive hooked upper jaw.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> The majority of adult male common box turtles have red irises, while those of the female are yellowish-brown. Males also differ from females by possessing shorter, stockier and more curved claws on their hind feet, and longer and thicker tails.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/>

There are six living subspecies of the common box turtle, each differing slightly in appearance, namely in the colour and patterning of the carapace, and the possession of either three or four toes on each hind foot. The subspecies ''Terrapene carolina triunguis'' is particularly distinctive as most males have a bright red head.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/>
{{Clear}}

==Distribution==
The common box turtle inhabits open woodlands, marshy meadows, floodplains, scrub forests and brushy grasslands<ref name=Capula/><ref name="Ernst 1997"/> in much of the eastern United States, from Maine and Michigan to eastern {{wipe|Texas}} and south Florida.  It was once found in Canada in southern Ontario and is still found in Mexico along the Gulf Coast and in the Yucatán Peninsula.<ref name="IUCN Red"/><ref name="Ernst 1997"/> The species range is not continuous as the two Mexican subspecies, ''T. c. mexicana'' (Mexican box turtle) and ''T. c. yucatana'' (Yucatán box turtle), are separated from the US subspecies by a gap in western Texas. Three of the US subspecies; ''T. c. carolina'' (eastern box turtle), ''T. c. major'' (Gulf Coast box turtle) and ''T. c. bauri'' (Florida box turtle); occur roughly in the areas indicated by their names. ''T. c. triunguis'' (three-toed box turtle) is found in the central United States.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> The species has become extirpated from Ontario and Canada as a whole.<ref name="Nature Serve">{{cite web |title=''Terrapene carolina''. NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100312/Terrapene_carolina |website=explorer.natureserve.org |access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="margin: 1em auto; text-align: center;"
|-
! scope="col" | Eastern box turtle <br />''Terrapene carolina carolina''
! scope="col" | Florida box turtle <br />''T. c. bauri''
! scope="col" | Gulf Coast box turtle <br />''T. c. major''
|-
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:Eastern box turtle.jpg|250px|border]]
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:Florida Box Turtle Digon3a.jpg|250px|border]]
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:Terrapene carolina major.jpg|250px|border]]
|-
! scope="col" | Three-toed box turtle<br />''T. c. triunguis''
! scope="col" |Mexican box turtle <br />''T. c. mexicana''
! scope="col" | Yucatán box turtle <br />''T. c. yucatana''
|-
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:Three-toed Box Turtle.jpg|250px|border]]
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:CistudoMexicanaFord.jpg|250px|border]]
| style="border: 0;" | [[File:Terrapene carolina yucatana.jpg|250px|border]]
|}

==Behavior==
[[File:Eastern Box Turtle 8667.jpg|thumb|alt=angled downward view of a turtle facing to the upper right as she squeezes out an egg out the back. There is a distended part of her body far behind her half covering the egg.|Egg-laying]]

Common box turtles are predominantly terrestrial reptiles that are often seen early in the day, or after rain, when they emerge from the shelter of rotting leaves, logs, or a mammal burrow to forage. These turtles have an incredibly varied diet of animal and plant matter, including earthworms, snails, slugs, insects, wild berries, roots, flowers, fungi, fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, birds, eggs, and sometimes even animal carrion (in the form of dead ducks, amphibians, assorted small mammals, and even a dead cow).<ref name=Capula/><ref name="Ernst 1997"/><ref name="animaldiversity.org">{{cite web|last=Niedzielski|first=Steven|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Terrapene_carolina/|title=''Terrapene carolina'' (Florida Box Turtle)|website=[[Biology:Animal Diversity Web|Animal Diversity Web]]|year=2002|access-date=25 June 2023|editor-last=Wund|editor-first=Matthew}}</ref>

In the warmer summer months, common box turtles are more likely to be seen near the edges of swamps or marshlands,<ref name=Capula/> possibly in an effort to stay cool. If common box turtles do become too hot, (when their body temperature rises to around 32&nbsp;°C), they smear saliva over their legs and head; as the saliva evaporates it leaves them comfortably cooler. Similarly, the turtle may urinate on its hind limbs to cool the body parts it is unable to cover with saliva.<ref name=Alderton/>

Courtship in the common box turtle, which usually takes place in spring, begins with a "circling, biting and shoving" phase. These acts are carried out by the male on the female.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> Following some pushing and shell-biting, the male grips the back of the female's shell with his hind feet to enable him to lean back, slightly beyond the vertical, and mate with the female.<ref name="Halliday 2002"/>  Remarkably, female common box turtles can store sperm for up to four years after mating,<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> and thus do not need to mate each year.<ref name="Halliday 2002"/>

In May, June or July, females normally lay a clutch of 1 to 11 eggs into a flask-shaped nest excavated in a patch of sandy or loamy soil. After 70 to 80 days of incubation, the eggs hatch, and the small hatchlings emerge from the nest in late summer. In the northern parts of its range, the common box turtle may enter hibernation in October or November. They burrow into loose soil, sand, vegetable matter, or mud at the bottom of streams and pools, or they may use a mammal burrow, and will remain in their chosen shelter until the cold winter has passed.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> The common box turtle has been known to attain the greatest lifespan of any [[Biology:Vertebrate|vertebrate]] outside of the [[Biology:Tortoise|tortoise]]s. One specimen lived to be at least 138 years of age.<ref name = "Wood">{{cite book | author = Wood, Gerald | url = https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofan00wood | title = The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats | year = 1983 | publisher = Guinness Superlatives | isbn = 978-0-85112-235-9 }}</ref>

==Human interaction==

===Conservation===

Although the common box turtle has a wide range and was once considered common, many populations are in decline as a result of a number of diverse threats. Agricultural and [[Earth:Urban sprawl|urban development]] is [[Earth:Habitat destruction|destroying habitat]], while human fire management is degrading it.<ref name="IUCN Red"/> Development brings with it an additional threat in the form of increased infrastructure, as common box turtles are frequently killed on roads and highways. Collection for the international pet trade may also impact populations in some areas.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/><ref name="Nature Serve"/> The life history characteristics of the common box turtle (long lifespan and slow reproductive rate)<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> make it particularly vulnerable to such threats. The common box turtle is therefore classified as a [[Biology:Vulnerable species|vulnerable species]] on the IUCN Red List.<ref name="IUCN Red"/> The common box turtle is also listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that international trade in this species should be carefully monitored to ensure it is compatible with the species' survival.<ref name="CITES-Appendices"/> In addition, many U.S. states now regulate or prohibit the taking of this species.<ref name="Ernst 1997"/> [[Organization:NatureServe|NatureServe]] considers it ''Secure''.<ref name="Nature Serve"/>

This species also occurs in a number of protected areas, some of which are large enough to protect populations from the threat of development, while it may also occur in the Sierra del Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Conservation recommendations for the common box turtle include establishing management practices during urban developments that are sympathetic to this species, as well as further research into its life history and the monitoring of populations.<ref name="IUCN Red"/>

===State reptiles===

{{quote box|width=35%|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|fontsize=90%|quote="The turtle watches undisturbed as countless generations of faster 'hares' run by to quick oblivion, and is thus a model of patience for mankind, and a symbol of our State's unrelenting pursuit of great and lofty goals."|source=North Carolina Secretary of State<ref name = "NC SR"/>}}

Common box turtles are official state reptiles of four U.S. states.  North Carolina and Tennessee honor the eastern box turtle,<ref name="Shearer321"/><ref name= "NC Library">{{cite web | title= Official State Symbols of North Carolina | publisher= State of North Carolina | url= http://ncpedia.org/symbols/reptile | work= North Carolina State Library | access-date= 26 January 2008 }}</ref><ref name='Tennessee'/> Missouri names the three-toed box turtle,<ref name='Missouri'/> and Kansas adopted the ornate box turtle in 1986.<ref name="KQF">{{cite web |title=Kansas Quick Facts |url=https://governor.ks.gov/about-kansas/quickfacts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511125749/https://governor.ks.gov/about-kansas/quickfacts |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/kansas/state-reptile/ornate-box-turtle|title=Ornate Box Turtle State Symbols USA|website=statesymbolsusa.org|date=23 May 2014 |access-date=16 March 2016}}</ref>

In Pennsylvania, the eastern box turtle made it through one house of the legislature, but failed to win final naming in 2009.<ref name="Pennsylvania failure"/>  In Virginia, bills to honor the eastern box turtle failed in 1999 and then in 2009.  Although a sponsor of the original failed 1998 bill,<ref>https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?981+ful+HB1109+pdf</ref> in 2009, Delegate Frank Hargrove, of Hanover, asked why Virginia would make an official emblem of an animal that retreats into its shell when frightened and dies by the thousands crawling across roads.  However, the main problem in Virginia was that the creature was too closely linked to neighbor state North Carolina.<ref name="VA SB1504"/><ref name="VA AP"/>
{{Clear}}

==References==

===Citations===

{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="IUCN Red">{{Cite iucn | author = van Dijk, P.P. | title = ''Terrapene carolina'' | volume = 2011 | page = e.T21641A97428179 | date = 2011 | doi = <!--  10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T21641A9303747.en-->}}</ref>

<ref name="Dodd26">{{Harnvb|Dodd|pp=24–30}}</ref>

<ref name="Fritz196">{{Harnvb|Fritz|2007|p=196}}</ref>

<ref name=Capula>{{cite book|last=Capula|first=M.|title=The Macdonald Encyclopedia of Amphibians and Reptiles|year=1990|publisher=Macdonald and Co Ltd.|location=London}}</ref>

<ref name="Ernst 1997">{{cite book|last1=Ernst|first1=C. H.|last2=Altenbourgh|first2=R. G. M.|last3=Barbour|first3=R. W.|title=Turtles of the World|year=1997|publisher=ETI Information Systems Ltd.|location=Netherlands|url=http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/turtles.php|access-date=19 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628040040/http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/bis/turtles.php|archive-date=28 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Alderton>{{cite book|last=Alderton|first=D.|title=Turtles and Tortoises of the World|year=1988|publisher=Blandford Press|location=London}}</ref>

<ref name="Halliday 2002">{{cite book|last=Halliday|first=T.|title=The New Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|author2=Adler, K.}}</ref>

<ref name = "NC SR">{{cite web | url = http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/pubsweb/symbols/sy-turtl.htm | title = Eastern Box Turtle – North Carolina State Reptiles | access-date = 13 February 2011 | publisher = North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State}}</ref>

<ref name="Shearer321">{{Harvnb|Shearer|1994|p=321}}</ref>

<ref name='Tennessee'>{{cite journal | title = Tennessee Symbols And Honor | journal = Tennessee Blue Book | page = 526| url = http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/07-08/46-Symbols%20&%20Honors.pdf | access-date = 22 January 2011}}</ref>

<ref name='Missouri'>{{cite web | url = http://www.sos.mo.gov/symbols/symbols.asp?symbol=reptile | title = State Symbols of Missouri: State Reptile | access-date = 21 January 2011 | publisher = Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnihan}}</ref>

<ref name="Pennsylvania failure">{{cite web|title=Regular Session 2009–2010: House Bill 621|url=http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2009&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=621|publisher=Pennsylvania State Legislature|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="VA SB1504">{{cite web|title=SB 1504 Eastern Box Turtle; designating as official state reptile|url=https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+sum+SB1504|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116220300/http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+sum+sb1504|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2010|publisher=Virginia State Legislature|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="VA AP">{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Virginia House crushes box turtle's bid to be state reptile|url=http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Virginia-House-Crushes-Box-Turtles-Bid-to-Be-State-Reptile.html|access-date=25 February 2011|newspaper=NBC Washington|date=20 February 2009}}</ref>

}}

===Bibliography===
*{{Anchor|CITEREFDodd}}{{cite book | title = North American Box Turtles: A Natural History | first = C. Kenneth | last = Dodd Jr. | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-8061-3501-4}}
*{{Anchor|CITEREFFritz2007}}{{cite journal|journal=Vertebrate Zoology |title=Checklist of Chelonians of the World |year=2007 |first=Uwe |last=Fritz |author2=Havaš, Peter |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=149–368 |doi=10.3897/vz.57.e30895 |s2cid=87809001 |doi-access=free }}
*{{Anchor|CITEREFShearer1994}}{{cite book | last1 = Shearer | first1 = Benjamin F. | last2 = Shearer | first2 = Barbara S. | title = State names, seals, flags, and symbols | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | year = 1994 | location = Westport, Connecticut | isbn = 978-0-313-28862-3 | edition = 2nd | url = https://archive.org/details/statenamessealsf00shea }}

==External links==
{{Commons|Terrapene carolina}}


{{Taxonbar |from=Q1044378}}

[[Category:Terrapene]]

{{Sourceattribution|Common box turtle}}