Pseudemys is a genus of large, herbivorous, freshwater turtles of the eastern United States and adjacent northeast Mexico.

They are often referred to as cooters, which stems from kuta, the word for turtle in the Bambara and Malinké languages, brought to America by enslaved people from Africa.

[2] The generic name Pseudemys is derived from the Greek words, pseudes meaning false or misleading, and emydos a freshwater turtle, implying a resemblance to, but not included in the genus Emys.

[9] The other specific epithets are derived from Latin: P. concinna, from concinnus meaning neat, trim, or skillfully joined, likely in reference to the relatively smooth, stream-lined shell, or possibly the colors and patterns on the carapace;[5][10] and P. rubriventris, from rubidus reddish, and venter belly, referring the red color of the plastron.

All are aquatic, spending the majority of their time in lakes, rivers, and ponds where they can easily be seen basking on rocks and logs in sunny weather.

The northern red-bellied cooter (Pseudemys rubriventris), ranges north into central New Jersey with some smaller isolated populations in New York and Massachusetts.

Pseudemys concinna are known to retain a greater degree of animal prey in their diet than most species in the genus, but are still predominantly herbivorous as adults.

In addition to a variety of algae and aquatic mosses, plants reported in the diets include fanwort (Cabomba), coontails (Ceratophyllum), duckweed (Lemna minor), large-flowered waterweed (Egeria densa), waterthyme (Hydrilla verticillata), water milfoil (Myriophyllum), fragrant water-lily (Nymphaea odorata), southern waternymph (Najas guadalupensis), spadderdock (Nuphar luteum), pondweed (Potamogeton), arrowhead (Sagittaria sp.