Kinosternon flavescens (Yellow Mud Turtle) Assembly and Sequencing
Kinosternon flavescens, commonly known as the yellow mud turtle, is a small chelonian species indigenous to the United States and northern Mexico. This species exhibits a dark olive to brown carapace and a distinctive yellow to tan plastron. It primarily inhabits lentic freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, and ditches, often exhibiting fossorial behavior by burrowing into mud or sand substrates. As an omnivorous species, its diet encompasses a variety of insects, small aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, carrion, and plant matter.