South American slider

The carapace of the turtle's shell grows to 19–30 cm (7.5–11.8 in) in males and 19–33 cm (7.5–13.0 in) in females. It is highest near its center and widest further toward the posterior of the turtle, where it is also slightly serrated. The carapace can be green, olive or brown, and on each pleural there is a yellow to reddish circle with a dark spot in the middle of it, with the circle and the spot being interspaced with the regular color of the carapace. The plastron is yellow to very light brown, with an intricate pattern of dark lines across the entirety of it. The head of the turtle has yellow lines and a splotch behind the ears, similarly to Trachemys scripta.

The two subspecies are found in two geographically discontiguous areas of Colombia and Venezuela. The Colombian slider is endemic to a part of the Caribbean Sea's drainage basin that is centered on the lower sections of the Magdalena River and the Cauca River. Most of its range is in northern Colombia, but a part of it is in Zulia, Venezuela, on the western shore of Lake Maracaibo. The Venezuelan slider is endemic to the coastal watersheds between the Tocuyo River and Morón River, spanning the Venezuelan states of Falcón, Yaracuy and Carabobo. The turtles lives in slow rivers, lakes, swamps, and ponds, in areas with floating vegetation and logs to bask on, and they can to some extent tolerate brackish water.

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