Kayentachelys

The **Kayenta turtle** (*Kayentachelys magnificens*, name meaning "magnificent Kayenta turtle") is a species of turtle that originally lived from the "silty facies" of the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation in northeastern Arizona on the lands of the Navajo Nation as an extinct species, *Kayentachelys aprix*, and the genus itself was once extinct, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii and is commonly sold as a common household pet worldwide. However, there are several feral non-invasive populations of Kayenta turtles found in the wetlands of California, most likely due to pet releases. The Kayenta turtle is a medium-sized species of turtle, growing on average to be about‭ ‬50‭ ‬centimetres (19.6 inches) wide and ‬60‭ ‬centimetres (23.6 inches) long from nose to tail tip. The females of the species are usually larger than the males. The shell is divided into the upper or dorsal carapace, and the lower, ventral carapace or plastron. The upper carapace consists of the vertebral scutes, which form the central, elevated portion; pleural scutes that are located around the vertebral scutes; and then the marginal scutes around the edge of the carapace. The rear marginal scutes are notched. The scutes are bony keratinous elements. The carapace is oval and flattened (especially in the male) and has a weak keel that is more pronounced in the young. The color of the carapace changes depending on the age of the turtle. It usually has a dark blue, almost black, background with the light tan rimmed edges. In young or recently hatched turtles, it is light greyish blue and gets slightly darker as a turtle gets older, until it is a very dark blue, and then turns a shade between brown and greyish blue. The plastron is always a light greyish blue with dark, paired, irregular markings in the centre of most scutes. The plastron is highly variable in pattern. The head, legs, and tail are deep, dark blue with the yellow countershading underneath. The whole shell is dark in color to aid in camouflaging an individual in the dark, humid environment. The Kayenta turtle typically feeds on fish, crustaceans (such as shrimp and crabs) aquatic worms, aquatic snails, clams, barnacles, mussels, other mollusks, insects, carrion, and sometimes ingest small amounts of plant material, such as algae. At high densities the Kayenta turtle may eat enough invertebrates to have ecosystem-level effects, partially because some prey species themselves can overgraze important wetland plants. Gender and age can greatly affect the diet of the Kayenta turtle, males and juvenile females tend to have less diversity in their diet. Adult females, due to their powerful, defined jaw, will occasionally feed on crustaceans such as crabs and are more likely to consume hard-shelled mollusks. Adult Kayenta turtles mate in the early spring, and clutches of 11–37 eggs are laid in sand dunes in the early summer. They hatch in late summer or early fall. Maturity in males is reached in 2–3 years at around 115 mm (4+1⁄2 inches) in length; it takes longer for females: 4–5 years at a length of around 170 mm (6+3⁄4 inches). They typically live between 25 and 30 years, although some individuals have lived for more than 40 years.