Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 26, 2026

Trachemys

Trachemys is a genus of turtles belonging to the family Emydidae. Members of this genus are native to the Americas, ranging from the Midwestern United States south to northern Argentina, but one subspecies, the red-eared slider, has been introduced worldwide. Species under this genus are commonly referred to as sliders.

Last revised
Jun 26, 2026
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Wikipedia ↗
Trachemys
Temporal range:
Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Emydidae
Subfamily: Deirochelyinae
Genus: Trachemys
Agassiz, 1857123
Synonyms

Calliclemys12
Redemys12

Trachemys is a genus of turtles belonging to the family Emydidae.1 Members of this genus are native to the Americas, ranging from the Midwestern United States south to northern Argentina, but one subspecies, the red-eared slider (T. scripta elegans), has been introduced worldwide. Species under this genus are commonly referred to as sliders.

Two red-eared sliders basking at Captain Falcon Park in Corpus Christi, Texas (15 April 2016). source ↗
Mesoamerican slider (Trachemys venusta cataspila) in Tamaulipas, Mexico (22 September 2004). source ↗

Species and subspecies

Extant

Nota bene: In the above list, a binomial authority or a trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Trachemys.

Fossil shell of T. inflata, Florida Museum of Natural History source ↗

Fossil

  • † Trachemys inflata Weaver & Robertson, 1967 - inflated slider turtle8
  • † Trachemys haugrudi Jasinski, 2018 - Haugrud's slider turtle9
References

References

  1. Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley (2010-12-14). "Turtles of the World 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution and Conservation Status" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  2. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007-10-31). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  3. Harfush-Meléndez, Martha; Buskirk, James R. (2008-07-29). "New Distributional Data on the Tehuantepec Slider, Trachemys grayi, in Oaxaca, Mexico". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 7 (2): 274–276. doi:10.2744/CCB-0710.1. S2CID 86009087.
  4. Rhodin, Anders G.J. (2021-11-15). Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). Chelonian Research Monographs. Vol. 8. Chelonian Research Foundation and Turtle Conservancy. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. ISBN 978-0-9910368-3-7. S2CID 244279960.
  5. Vargas-Ramírez, Mario; del Valle, Carlos; Ceballos, Claudia P.; Fritz, Uwe (2017). "Trachemys medemi n. sp. from northwestern Colombia turns the biogeography of South American slider turtles". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 55 (4): 326-339. doi:10.1111/jzs.12179
  6. Rhodin et al. 2010, p. 000.104.
  7. Fritz & Havaš 2007, pp. 210-211.
  8. Jasinski, Steve (May 2013). "Fossil Trachemys (Testudines: Emydidae) from the Late Hemphillian of Eastern Tennessee and Its Implications for the Evolution of the Emydidae". Doctoral dissertation, East Tennessee State University. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  9. Jasinski, Steven E. (2018-02-13). "A new slider turtle (Testudines: Emydidae: Deirochelyinae: Trachemys) from the late Hemphillian (late Miocene/early Pliocene) of eastern Tennessee and the evolution of the deirochelyines". PeerJ. 6 e4338. doi:10.7717/peerj.4338. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 5815335. PMID 29456887.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Agassiz L (1857). Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. li + 452 pp. (Trachemys, new genus, p. 434).
External links