Mapping the Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) and Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) in Western North America

We georeferenced Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) and Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) locality records in western North America, compiling diverse institutional data sets, including data from 9 US states and Canadian provinces. For the entire range of the Western Pond Turtle and the western range of the Painted Turtle, we assessed counts of distinct locations from historical data, and analyzed distribution patterns temporally and spatially. Western Pond Turtle observation records were compiled from year 1850 to 2011, and Painted Turtle records were compiled from 1805 to 2011. For the Western Pond Turtle, 2935 locations were compiled range-wide; using a 500-m buffer criterion to aggregate adjacent coordinates to assess distinct localities, we consolidated these to 2111 discrete sites. We compiled 2953 locations for the Painted Turtle, which consolidated to 1219 discrete sites in the United States using the same 500-m criterion. The mapped data illustrate spatiotemporal patterns, which can be used to advance new efforts toward turtle management in northwestern North America.