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Smooth Softshell vs. Ornate Box Turtle

The shell: Smooth Softshell — soft, flat and leathery; Ornate Box Turtle — hard, with plates. The shell pattern: Smooth Softshell — plain, no pattern or dark spots or rings on a leathery shell; Ornate Box Turtle — yellow lines fanning out from the centre of each plate. The head marks: Smooth Softshell — plain or several yellow stripes, no patch; Ornate Box Turtle — yellow or orange spots.

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Smooth Softshell

Apalone mutica

Ornate Box Turtle

Terrapene ornata
Smooth Softshell vs. Ornate Box Turtle: comparison sheet with the differences marked

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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