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Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata)

[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2171″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]Female adult Ornate Box Turtle, Rancho Los Fresnos, Sonora. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2190″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Photo by Cecil Schwalbe[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2191″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Ornate Box Turtle. Photo by C. Johnson[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2193″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Hatching Ornate Box Turtle. Photo by C. Johnson[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2192″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Ornate Box Turtle, Rancho El Aribabi, Sonora. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2194″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Ornate Box Turtle, Patagonia Mtns, AZ. Photo by Jim Rorabaugh[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Description

The Ornate Box Turtle is a moderate-sized (< 146 mm carapace length) terrestrial turtle with a relatively high-domed and rounded or oval carapace, sometimes with a weak mid-dorsal keel posteriorly.  The carapace is dark brown to reddish brown with radiating light lines, but may fade with age to a straw color with few or no lines.  The plastron is hinged only in the front, and is mostly dark colored with light radiating lines on each scute.  The digits are not webbed.  Adult males typically have orange or red eyes, whereas the eye of the adult female is yellow to orange-brown.  In the 100-Mile Circle, this is the only terrestrial turtle likely to be found outside the Sonoran Desert, although Sonoran Mud Turtles are sometimes found in the uplands between ponds, and Sonoran Desert Tortoises encroach into semi-desert grasslands on the desert’s edge or even into montane woodlands, and can be found, as well, in southeastern Cochise County.  The Sonoran Desert Tortoise grows to a much larger size (to 322 mm carapace length) and lacks a hinged plastron.  The mud turtles (Kinosternon) all have hinges in the front and rear of the plastron.  Released Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina) are sometimes found in and around urban areas, but they generally have three toes on the hind feet (usually four in the Ornate Box Turtle), the carapace is more prominently keeled, and the first marginal scute is usually rectangular in shape (oval or triangular in the Ornate Box Turtle).

In the 100-Mile Circle, the Ornate Box Turtle is characteristically an inhabitant of valleys and bajadas within semi-desert grassland, Chihuahuan desertscrub, or Plains grassland.  It is also found occasionally into oak woodland and savanna in the sky island mountains ranges (rarely to as high as 2,160 m), and occurs on the eastern edge of the Sonoran Desert.  This species may use riparian corridors to penetrate into Sonoran desertscrub.  It ranges through much of the 100-Mile Circle except for areas of Sonoran Desert to the north and west of Tucson.  Within its range, the distribution is often patchy.  This species becomes surface active with the onset of the summer rains and stays active well into the fall.  In a study in the Sulphur Springs Valley, Ornate Box Turtles entered hibernation during the period of 18 October to 6 December.  Activity is diurnal, mostly morning and late afternoon.  It is not unusual to see these turtles crossing roads after summer rains in Cochise County and portions of Santa Cruz County.  Unfortunately, many are killed by passing vehicles.  Ornate Box Turtles spend the night and inclement periods in burrows they dig themselves or they may take refuge in debris piles.  Where Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rats occur, they extensively use the mounds and burrows dug by those rodents.  Based on work in Socorro County, New Mexico, clutches of 1-4 eggs (mean=2.68) are laid in a nest dug by the female in May-August (most nesting occurs in July).  The eggs hatch about 59-70 days later.  Hatchlings are about 30 mm carapace length, and the hinge on the plastron is non-functional.  Egg production may not occur in drought years.  Higher incubation temperatures produce more females whereas lower temperatures produce more males.  Ornate Box Turtles are opportunistic omnivors.  Animal foods are preferred, including insects, worms, crayfish, and other invertebrates; carrion, tadpoles, toads, and eggs; but plants are taken as well, such as cactus stems and fruit.

The Ornate Box Turtle is listed as near threatened on the IUCN’s Red List.  The reasons they cite for that categorization include gradual habitat degradation and loss, roadkill and other human-caused accidental mortality, and the species’ slow growth and very limited reproductive capacity.  Collection of Ornate Box Turtles in Arizona has been prohibited since 2005.  Arizona Game and Fish Department maintains a Box Turtle Watch program where the public can report Box Turtle sightings:

http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/boxturtlewatch.shtml

The website also provides information on the ecology and management of this species.

Suggested Reading:

Brennan, T.C., and A.T. Holycross. 2006. Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ.

Ernst, C.H., and J.E. Lovich. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada (second edition). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Hall, D.H., and R.J. Steidl. 2004. Ecology and conservation of desert box turtles (Terrapene ornata luteola). Arizona Game and Fish Department Heritage Program, Phoenix, Project No. I02003.

Nieuwolt-Dacanay, P.M. 1997. Reproduction in the western box turtle, Terrapene ornata luteola. Copeia 1997(4):819-826.

Plummer, M.V. 2003. Activity and thermal ecology of the box turtle, Terrapene ornata, at its  southwestern range limit in Arizona.  Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4:569-577.

Plummer, M.V. 2014. Spatial relationships of the Desert Box Turtle (Terrapene ornate luteola) captured at a stock tank in southeastern Arizona. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9(1):156−162.

Plummer, M.V., B.K. Williams, M.M. Skiver, and J.C. Carlyle. 2003. Effects of dehydration on the critical thermal maximum of the desert box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola). Journal  of Herpetology 37:747-750.

Plummer, M.V. 2004. Seasonal inactivity of the desert box turtle, Terrapene ornata luteola, at the species’ southwestern range limit in Arizona. Journal of Herpetology 38:589-593.

Author: Jim Rorabaugh

For additional information on this species, please see the following volumes and pages in the Sonoran Herpetologist: 2006 Mar:30-31; 2009 Apr:38-43.

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