|Scientific Name:||Chrysemys picta| |Species
Authority:||(Schneider, 1783)| Chrysemys dorsalis Agassiz, 1857
Chrysemys marginata Agassiz, 1857 Chrysemys treleasei Hurter,
1911 Emys bellii Gray, 1830 Emys oregoniensis Harlan, 1837
Testudo picta Schneider, 1783 |Taxonomic Notes:||Chrysemys picta
is traditionally considered to include four subspecies: C. p.
picta (Schneider, 1783), C. p. bellii (Gray, 1831), C. p.
dorsalis Agassiz, 1857, and C. p. marginata Agassiz, 1857.
Starkey et al. (2003) argued that dorsalis is genetically
distinct enough to warrant elevation to full species status, a
position tentatively supported by the Turtle Taxonomy Working
Group (TTWG) (2010), while the remaining taxa (picta, belli and
marginata) show limited genetic variability and great
variability within populations, such that averages are
statistically different, but individual animals from the core of
a subspecies' range often cannot be reliably attributed to that
subspecies morphologically. The status of belli and marginata
(vs