Pseudemys

Pseudemys
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Emydidae
Subfamily: Deirochelyinae
Genus: Pseudemys
Gray, 1856[1]

Pseudemys is a genus of large, herbivorous, freshwater turtles of the eastern United States and adjacent northeast Mexico. They are often referred to as cooters, which stems from kuta, the word for turtle in the Bambara and Malinké languages, brought to America by enslaved people from Africa.[2]

  1. ^ Gray, John Edward 1855 [1856]. Catalogue of Shield Reptiles in the Collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). The Trustees (British Museum of natural History), London, 79 pp.
  2. ^ "Cooters". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2010-08-03.