(S. depressus) is endemic to north-central Alabama in the Black Warrior River basin above the fall line, and the intermediate musk turtle (S. intermedius) is found in southeastern Alabama and adjacent areas of the Florida panhandle in the Choctawhatchee, Conecuh, Yellow, Pea, Blackwater, and Escambia rivers. The razor-backed musk turtle (S. carinatus) occurs throughout Louisiana, and neighboring areas of Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The loggerhead musk turtle (S. minor) is found in extreme southeast Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida. The stripe-necked musk turtle (S. peltifer) predominantly occurs in Alabama and Mississippi with some peripheral records from Georgia, and Louisiana, and ranging into northern watersheds in eastern Tennessee with marginal records from North Carolina, and Virginia. Ecology and natural history Diet: Sternotherus are omnivorous. The loggerhead (S. minor) and stripe-necked musk turtle (S. peltifer) have been described as opportunistic generalist tending toward carnivory. Mollusk make up a significant portion of the diet in all species, particularly adults. Juveniles and sub-adults (under 5 cm.) feed on a higher percentage of aquatic insects, algae, and carrion. An ontogenetic change in diet occurs and adults shift to an omnivorous diet with a high percentage of mollusk. Food items include mollusks (gastropods and bivalves), insects (including larva, adults, aquatic and terrestrial), crustaceans (crayfish and crabs), worms (earthworms and leeches), amphibians (tadpoles and small frogs), carrion, filamantous green algae, parts of vascular plants and seeds (e.g. Prunus, Sambucus, Ulmus, Podostemum). Some novel and less common documented food items include spiders, millipedes, small fish and fish eggs, isopods, and small turtles. The flattened musk turtle (S. depressus) is known to feed on introduced Asian clams (Corbicula maniliensis). The razor-backed (S. carinatus) and eastern musk turtles (S. odoratus) are known to be bottom feeders, often searching with the neck extended and probing the mud and sand with their heads. Olfaction is probably important in the location and selection of food items. However, musk turtles occasionally feed at the surface and are also known to eat out of the water. Eastern musk turtles (S. odoratus) have occasionally been observed leaving the water at dusk to feed on slugs on land. Some larger adults develop hypertrophied head musculature and expanded crushing surfaces on both the upper and lower jaws that aid in eating mollusk. One study concluded razor-backed (S. carinatus) and eastern musk turtles (S. odoratus) were "euryphagous with food preferences directly related to the availability of food." Another