Southern painted turtle
Chrysemys dorsalis Agassiz, 1857
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis) is a species in the family Emydidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh 371.8 g to 378 g and live up to 23.3 years.
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Quick facts about the southern painted turtle
- Weight
- 374.9 g
- Length
- up to 14 cm
- Lifespan
- 23.3 years
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 61 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetland
- Egg incubation
- 68.5 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.2 – 6
- Age at maturity
- 4.5 years – 7 years
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2 – 5
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Lifestyle
- Aquatic
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the southern painted turtle live?
Not recorded
Is the southern painted 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 southern painted turtle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyEmydidae
- genusChrysemys
- SpeciesChrysemys dorsalis Agassiz, 1857
Synonyms Chrysemys picta dorsalis
Other names and names in other languages (12)
- سلحفاة مزركشة جنوبيةArabic
- želva jižníCzech
- Südliche ZierschildkröteGerman
- Tortuga pintada del SurSpanish
- Tortue peinte de l'estFrench
- セスジニシキガメJapanese
- Zuidelijke sierschildpadDutch
- เต่าเพนต์ใต้Thai
- Rückenstreifen-ZierschildkröteGerman
- RückenstreifenzierschildkröteGerman
- Chrysémyde peinte du SudFrench
- ナンブニシキガメJapanese
Relatives of the southern painted turtle
Other species in the same genus Chrysemys.

Painted turtle
Chrysemys picta
CompareSouthern painted turtle vs Painted turtleSouthern painted turtle vs Chrysemys corniculata
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the southern painted turtle?
An adult southern painted turtle weighs 374.9 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the southern painted turtle live?
The southern painted turtle has a recorded lifespan of 23.3 years.
What kind of animal is the southern painted turtle?
The southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis) belongs to the family Emydidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. 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 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - 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 - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - 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 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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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). Southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-painted-turtle
“Southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-painted-turtle.
@misc{southern_painted_turtle_2026,
title = {Southern painted turtle (Chrysemys dorsalis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-painted-turtle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}