Distribution: The spotted turtle range extends from southern Ontario, Quebec, and Maine southward along the Atlantic Coast and Piedmont to northern Florida and westward through Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, central Ohio, northern Indiana, and Michigan to northeastern Illinois.

Habitat: The spotted turtle is found in a wide variety of shallow wetland habitats including swamps, bogs, fens, wet pastures, marshes, the edges of Carolina bays and ponds, tidally influenced brackish streams, and small woodland streams (Nemuras 1966). Habitat requirements include soft substrate and some aquatic vegetation.

Behavior: This species is active during daylight hours only, with the exception of nesting females. After darkness, the bog turtle will bury itself into the mud bottom of the wetland or crawl into mammals' burrows and become inactive until dawn. Activity begins at sunrise, with turtles basking until warm or foraging for food. Activity levels peak in May for all states except South Carolina, which peaks in March, and decline in June for all states except South Carolina, which begins to decline in April. Activity is greatest in cooler weather (Activity: peak: 13.1-18.0 ^oC air temperature; reduced: 17.8- 22.3 ^oC air temperature). Turtles be-come dormant when water temperatures reach 32 ^oC. The spotted turtle is known to hibernate in congregations of up to 12 turtles of the same species.

Reproduction: For both sexes, maturity occurs within 7-10 years at a carapace length of 8.0 cm. Mating season varies geographically but generally occurs in April (can occur as early as March). Copulation can occur in water or on land. Water and air temperatures during courtship range from 8.8 to 18.9 ^oC, and 10.0 to 22.3 ^oC, respectively. The egg-laying season lasts from May to July, varying geographically (Chippindale 1989). Nesting takes places either in the late afternoon or evening, or in the morning. One or two clutches of one to eight eggs are deposited in a year (Wilson 1989). Nest sites include grass tussocks, hummocks, or moist sphagnum moss, and the loamy soil of marshy pastures (Chippindale 1989). The natural incubation period to hatching may last 70-83 days, although in captivity this period may be as short as 44 days (Ewert 1979). Over-wintering of hatchlings in nests has been reported (Ernst 1975).

Food habits: Spotted turtles are omnivorous scavengers and feed in the water. Diet includes aquatic grasses, filamentous green algae, aquatic insect larvae, small crustaceans, snakes, tadpoles, salamanders, and fish (Ernst 1976). Animal food items may be eaten alive or as carrion.

Populations: The Illinois population has declined until relatively few spotted turtles now exist in that state (Johnson 1983). Spotted turtle numbers are also falling in other Midwestern states. Spotted turtle numbers are declining in many areas due to habitat destruction and collection for the pet trade (Lovich and Jaworski 1988).