Aquatic. Carapace large and razor-backed. Plastron with single hinge and squarish pectoral scutes. Head speckled with black dots. 
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 163 records from 19 sources: 127 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 20 observation (
), with 16 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 24 of 75 counties (), with 8 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1926 to present.
This species predominantly occupies riverine systems and associated reservoirs of the South Central Plains, ascending well into the Ouachita Mountains and up the White and Cache rivers of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. A specimen from a city lake in Jonesboro, Craighead County (ASUMZ 33368 from 2015), is most likely a transplant, unsubstantiated by additional samples. A questionable record north of the Arkansas River in Pulaski County (UAFMC 2011-0007-0061 from 1970) warrants reexamination. Targeted sampling up the Arkansas Valley and Mississippi Alluvial Plain river systems may expand the known range of this species. A 1934 record from LeFlore County, Oklahoma (Sievert and Taggart, 2020), suggests the upper Poteau River in westcentral Arkansas may also harbor this species.
