The white-lipped mud turtle (''Kinosternon leucostomum'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

mud turtle ''Kinosternon'' is a genus of small aquatic turtles from the Americas known commonly as mud turtles. Geographic range They are found in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. The greatest species richness is in Mexico, ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Kinosternidae The Kinosternidae are a family of mostly small turtles that includes the mud turtles and musk turtles. The family contains 25 species within four genera, but taxonomic reclassification is an ongoing process, so many sources vary on the exact num ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and northwestern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Etymology

The synonym, ''Cinosternon spurrelli'' , which is a synonym of ''Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale'', was named in honor of British zoologist Herbert George Flaxman Spurrell.

Geographic range

''Kinosternon leucostomum'' is found in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

."''Kinosternon leucostomum'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. File:Kinosternon leucostomum 334068582.jpg, In Ecuador File:Kinosternon leucostomum 334068512.jpg, In Ecuador File:Kinosternon leucostomum 136814865.jpg, In Panama File:Kinosternon leucostomum 379292899 (cropped).jpg, In Costa Rica File:Kinosternon leucostomum 379292862.jpg, Plastron, in Costa Rica File:Kinosternon leucostomum 185041601.jpg, Plastron, in Belize File:Kinosternon leucostomum 185041566.jpg, Plastron, in Belize File:Kinosternon leucostomum 359488800 (cropped).jpg, Plastron, in Ecuador

Subspecies

*Northern white-lipped mud turtle – ''K. l. leucostomum'' *Southern white-lipped mud turtle – ''K. l. postinguinale'' ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

was originally described in a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

other than ''Kinosternon''. File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 330441710.jpg, alt= File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 241761893.jpg, alt= File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 295496219.jpg, alt= File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 295495122.jpg, alt= File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 241761983.jpg, alt= File:Kinosternon leucostomum postinguinale 330441726 (cropped) (cropped).jpg

Etymology

Geographic range

Subspecies

References

Further reading