Common map turtle
Graptemys geographica (Lesueur, 1817)
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The common map turtle (Graptemys geographica) is a species in the family Emydidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh about 1.14 kg and live up to 12.7 years.
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Quick facts about the common map turtle
- Weight
- 1.14 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 27 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 12.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 20 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 75 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 6 – 20src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the common map turtle live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common map turtle as introduced in 1 country.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the common map turtle endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the common map turtle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyEmydidae
- genusGraptemys
- SpeciesGraptemys geographica (Lesueur, 1817)
Synonyms Emys lesueuri, Emys macrocephala, Emys megacephala, Malacoclemmys geographica, Testudo geographica, Testudo geographica
Other names and names in other languages (16)
- Northern map turtleEnglish
- سلحفاة الخريطة الشائعةArabic
- سلحفاة الخريطة الشماليةArabic
- želva mapováCzech
- Nordlig LandkortskildpaddeDanish
- Landkarten-HöckerschildkröteGerman
- Tortuga mapa del NorteSpanish
- tortue géographiqueFrench
- Graptémyde géographiqueFrench
- térképes tarajosteknősHungarian
- ヒラチズガメJapanese
- 지도거북Korean
- LandkaartschildpadDutch
- Tartaruga-geográficaPortuguese
- Географическая черепахаRussian
- 北部地圖龜Chinese
Relatives of the common map turtle
Other species in the same genus Graptemys.
Escambia map turtle
Graptemys ernsti
Yellow blotched sawback
Graptemys flavimaculata
Black-knobbed sawback
Graptemys nigrinoda
Cagle's map turtle
Graptemys caglei
Northern false map turtle
Graptemys pseudogeographica
Texas map turtle
Graptemys versa
CompareCommon map turtle vs Escambia map turtleCommon map turtle vs Yellow blotched sawbackCommon map turtle vs Black-knobbed sawbackCommon map turtle vs Cagle's map turtle
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the common map turtle?
An adult common map turtle weighs 1.14 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the common map turtle live?
The common map turtle has a recorded lifespan of 12.7 years.
Is the common map turtle an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the common map turtle as introduced in 1 country: Belgium, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the common map turtle?
The common map turtle (Graptemys geographica) belongs to the family Emydidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common map turtle (Graptemys geographica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-map-turtle
“Common map turtle (Graptemys geographica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-map-turtle.
@misc{common_map_turtle_2026,
title = {Common map turtle (Graptemys geographica)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-map-turtle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}