Photo Gallery :: Midland or Eastern? Seems to have sparked controversy

[warnereg]

I am for sure that he is an eastern, but others seem to think otherwise, let me know your opinion

[freshprince2146]

Looks like an eastern to me. Lets see what the other people think. A better pic of the top of his shell would help.

[warnereg]

[warnereg]

not the best pic, but this should help, its dark so you cant really see the red on the egdes. But the bar lines are definitely apparent on the carapace.

[wiccabrat]

Well he doesn't look like mine and I have Midlands so he must be an eastern! lol

[lotsofpets]

Is there anyway you can get a picture of the top of his head? His shell generally has the markings like an eastern painted (both carapace and plastron). The red stripes on his neck and legs are like an eastern, but the yellow stripes on his head (from what I can see) look more like the western I used to have. From that, I'd say he's an eastern.

[warnereg]

unfotunately I've misplaced my camera for now, but Ive been looking more or less all day at the difference, his scutes are staggered, but his plastron is yellow and with no red, also the lines between the scutes are tan with a hint of red, which also points that he is a midland. The top of his head has red markings much like the ones on the edge of his carapace.

[warnereg]

Ive come to the conclusion that he is in fact a midland, after sifting throught much garbage online I found that most sites have their own species mixed up, which doesnt help, but Ive learned that easterns and midlands are very closely related, the only difference is the scutes on the carapace, on easterns they are more in line, on midlands they are staggered, thanks for the help. If anyone knows otherwise please let me know.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Does he have any slight look of black on the his plastron. That is main way to tell eastern from a midland. Easterns are pure yellow. Any hint of black means it has midland blood. My guess is it probably a midlnad/eastern hybrid which is very common. Pic 1 is an eastern/midland hybrid

Midland


Eastern

[warnereg]

His plastron is mostly yellow with a small hint to black in the middle.

[jozzep]

To me it was easy to tell he's a midland right off the bat, but i may have a little more experience than others, no offense.
I will explain the easiest way possible how to tell the difference.
1) easterns have 4 white blotches on their head and neck(2 on each side) that midlands do not have.
2) easterns head lines are white going into red. Midlands are yellowish.
3) The DEAD give away are the carapace scute differences.
Easterns are simmetrical and midlands are staggered and the dorsal scutes form like a "curly bracket" with the side ones in adult specimens.
I would explain the differences between southerns and westerns as well, but no need for it at this time.

[jozzep]

Well he doesn't look like mine and I have Midlands so he must be an eastern! lol

Are you sure yours are midlands? Maybe you should post some pics so we can take a look.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

His plastron is mostly yellow with a small hint to black in the middle.

Well then its got midland blood and along with the other traits jozzep mentioned you got a midland.

Top or bottom are dead give aways.

[warnereg]

Thank you for your dedication to the subject! I now know how to distinguish all four subspecies. It has definitely helped me learn a good deal more about identification. I plan on going for the winter semester at MCC to be on my way as a herpetologist, so the more I know before school, the better off I will be.