THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Testudines    Emydidae  

Blanding's Turtle
Emydoidea blandingii (Holbrook, 1838)
eh-MY-doy-dee-ah — BLAND-ing-ee-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Distinct genetic units have been identified in Canada (Davy et al., 2014, Canadian Journal of Zoology 92: 149–162), the midwestern USA (Sethuraman et al., 2014, Conservation Genetics 15: 61–73), and New York (McCluskey et al., 2016, Journal of Herpetology 50: 7–76). None of these studies made any taxonomic recommendations. Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2021, Chelonian Research Monographs (8): 1–472) recommended additional range-wide studies of this genetically diverse taxon. (Taggart, Travis W. and John Carr. 2025. Testudines – Turtles. Pages 55-63 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.20.59.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.05 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Nova Scotia Ontario Quebec
United States: Illinois Indiana Iowa Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska New Hampshire New York Ohio Pennsylvania South Dakota Wisconsin

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of an American naturalist, with a genus name referencing freshwater turtles.
Emydoidea — From Greek emys (ἐμύς), meaning “freshwater turtle,” combined with Latin -oidea, meaning “resembling” or “like.” The name essentially means “turtle-like” or “resembling Emys,” reflecting the genus’s former classification within or near Emys.
blandingii — A patronym honoring Dr. William Blanding (1773–1857), an American naturalist and physician who provided the first specimen and early descriptions of the species to naturalists of his time.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Blanding's Cistuda (Cistuda blandingii: Storer, D. H. 1839. Reports on the Ichthyology and Herpetology of Massachusetts. Reports on the Fishes, Reptiles and Birds of Massachusetts. Published Agreeably to an Order of the Legislature, by the Commissioners on the Zoological and Botanical Survey of the State. Dutton and Wentworth, State Printers, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.); Blanding's Box Tortoise (Cistuda blandingii: De Kay, James E. 1842. Zoology of New-York, or, The New-York Fauna: Comprising Detailed Descriptions of All the Animals Hitherto Observed within the State of New-York, with Brief Notices of those Occasionally Found Near its Borders, and Accompanied by Appropriate Illustrations. Volume 1, Part 3 (Reptiles and Amphibians). W. & A. White & J. Visscher, Albany, New York. pp.); Blanding's Tortoise (Emys meleagris: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Box Tortoise (Cistuda carolina: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Speckled Turtle (Emys blandingii: Drowne, Frederick P. 1905. The reptiles and batrachians of Rhode Island. Monograph of the Roger Williams Park Museum 15():1-24); Blandings Tortoise (Emys blandingii: Drowne, Frederick P. 1905. The reptiles and batrachians of Rhode Island. Monograph of the Roger Williams Park Museum 15():1-24); Blanding's Turtle (Emys blandingii: Stejneger, Leonhard H. and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); Semibox Turtle (Emys blandingi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Blanding's Turtle (Emys blandingi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1838 Holbrook, John E. North American Herpetology; or, a Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Volume 3. J. Dobson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 122pp.
1973 McCoy, Clarence J., Jr. Emydoidea, E. blandingii. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (136):1-4
1975 Van Devender, Thomas R. and J. E. King. Fossil Blanding's Turtles, Emydoidea blandingii (Holbrook), and the late Pleistocene vegetation of western Missouri. Herpetologica 31:208-212
2001 Rubin, Cory S., Richard E. Warner, Juan L. Bouzat, and Ken N. Paige. Population genetic structure of Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in an urban landscape. Biological Conservation 99(3):323-330
2003 Bury, R. Bruce and D. J. Germano. Differences in habitat use by Blanding's turtles, Emydoidea blandingii, and painted turtles, Chrysemys picta, in the Nebraska sandhills. American Midland Naturalist (149):241-244
2014 Sethuraman, Arun, Suzanne E. McGaugh, Morgan L. Becker, Christopher H. Chandler, James L. Chrisiansen, Sue Hayden, Andrea LeClere, Jennifer Monson-Miller, Erin M. Myers, Ryan T. Paitz, Jeanine M. Refsnider, Terry J. VanDeWalle, and Fredric J. Janzen. Population genetics of Blanding's Turtle (Emys blandingii) in the midwestern United States. Conservation Genetics 15:61-73
2014 Davy, Christina M. and Robert W. Murphy. Conservation genetics of the endangered Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) illustrate the risks of "bottleneck tests". Canadian Journal of Zoology 92:149-162
2016 McCluskey, Eric M., Stephen W. Mockford, Kylie Sands, Tom B. Herman, Glenn Johnson, and Rusty A. Gonser. Population genetic structure of Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in New York. Journal of Herpetology 50(1):70-76
2021 Rhodin, Anders G. J., John B. Iverson, Roger Bour, Uwe Fritz, Arthur Georges, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Peter Paul van Dijk. Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: First checklist and review of extinct pleistocene and holocene chelonians. Chelonian Research Monographs (8):1-472
2023 Guinto, Daniel, Matthew Cross, Gregory Lipps, Jr., Yuman Lee, Bruce Kingsbury, Daniel Earl, Connor Dempsey, Jessica Hinson, and Mark Jordan Conservation genetic analysis of Blanding's Turtles across Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Diversity Diversity(5):1-20

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:53 CT