General coloration is dark brown to black.
There is some yellow on the chin and neck and along the edge of the upper shell. The lower shell is normally yellow with some brown coloration along the scute seams. The Illinois mud turtle prefers a sandy habitat and spends as much time on land as in the water. Aquatic habitat includes marshes, oxbow lakes and flooded fields. It spends the winter as well as the hot months of summer buried in the sand on land.