Relative Carapace Lengths of Vermont Turtles

This chart was compiled by Megan Kane using turtle carapace-length data from the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas Database in June of 2013. These turtles were organized by carapace size, and include the largest 10% from each species.

Vermont's Reported Turtle Carapaces

The lengths in the left numerical column are those you would expect for mature adults of the larger sex (usually females) of these species in Vermont. The lengths in the middle are those for the largest, reliably-documented turtle of that species from Vermont. The right numerical column shows the number of individuals that made up the largest 10% of records for that species. Can you document a larger one?

Length Data for the Longest (Top 10%) Vermont Turtles
Measured in inches in a straight line from the front to the back of the carapace
Species Average Carapace Length of Large Adults (Top 10%) Longest Reported in Vermont
(in inches)
n (in top 10%) Person(s) Who Recorded Longest
Spotted Turtle 4.8 4.9 2 Steve Parren, et al.
Eastern Musk Turtle 5.1 5.1 2 Kelly Halloran and Grant Bolsta
Painted Turtle 6.9 8.0 36 Chris Dunby
Wood Turtle 8.1 8.3 3 Steve Parren
Northern Map Turtle 9.4 10.8 2 Rowena Brown
Spiny Softshell 14.7 15.6 16 Jed Merrow
Snapping Turtle 15.6 18.5 25 Kiley Briggs