Kinosternon sonoriense
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The Sonora mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense) is a species of turtle in the Kinosternidae family. Its common names include the Desert Mud Turtle and Casquito de Sonora in Spanish. It is found in Mexico and the United States. One subspecies, the Sonoyta mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale), is currently recognized.
The Sonora mud turtle's range historically extended to the lower Colorado River Basin of Southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and likely Baja California and Southern Nevada. It currently only exists in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora and the United States states of Arizona and New Mexico.
Sonora mud turtles live in various bodies of water such as streams, shallow pools, and even large puddles with depths of 20 to 300 cm (7.9 to 118 inches), in arid mountain and desert areas between elevations of 305 to 1,525 m (1,000 to 5,003 ft).
Wild Sonora mud turtles estivate in vegetation, soil, or other organic matter 64% of the time, and in boulder crevices 36% of the time. Studies have shown turtles can remain dormant on land for 11 to 34 days during drought conditions.
he U.S. Fish... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Saguaro National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sonoran Mud Turtle sighting in Saguaro National Park on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 26th most-seen of the 51 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sonoran Mud Turtle in Saguaro National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and December, the lowest months. That is one of Saguaro National Park's wettest months, with about 45 mm of rain against almost none in May.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sonoran Mud Turtle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Saguaro National Park, in our data
Saguaro National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Sonoran Mud Turtle sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sonoran Mud Turtle is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Saguaro National Park (39 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
