Aquatic. Pancake-shaped with long neck and snorkel nose. Carapace with pattern of dots and sandpaper-like texture. Front edge of carapace with bumps. Nostrils with ridge-like projections. Feet strongly patterned. 
Subspecies: A. s. pallida (Pallid Spiny Softshell) and A. s. spinifera (Eastern Spiny Softshell)
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 467 records from 20 sources: 300 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 53 observation (
), with 114 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 42 of 75 counties (), with 29 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1900 to present.
This species occurs statewide, although it may be less common in high gradient streams of the Interior Highlands. Many localities plotted by Trauth et al. (2004) across the state remain unsourced. The A. s. spinifera subspecies (■) is recognized for most of the state, with the A. s. pallida subspecies (■) reported from the Red River drainage in southwest Arkansas and purported to have morphological influence throughout the South Central Plains (Trauth et al., 2004; Powell et al., 2016).
