The Western Painted Turtle is widely distributed in North America, and is found from the east coast to the west coast. In British Columbia, it is found in the southern part of the province, and is most abundant in the Okanagan Valley and the Kootenay region (Matsuda et al. 2006). It is also found in southwestern BC, on Vancouver Island and along the south coast, with one report from Vanderhoof (probably an abandoned pet) (Matsuda et al. 2006).
Four subspecies of the Painted Turtle are recognized in North America: Chrysemys picta picta, C. p. marginata, C. p. dorsalis and C. p. bellii (Wikipedia 2012). C. p. bellii is the only subspecies reported for British Columbia and is the largest subspecies (Matsuda et al. 2006). The BCCDC recognizes two populations of this subspecies in BC: 1) Pacific Coast population 2) Intermountain - Rocky Mountain Population (BCCDC 2012).
