Today Xiaobian brings you a popular science article about turtles originally by a bar abcyxlyxl, Xiaobian spent a long time to read, really professional enough, although turtles in the turtle circle play less, but still want to share it for everyone, to friends in need to give a certain reference!
I want to write this article for a long time, the reason why I have not written for a long time, first, my own knowledge is limited and needs to be accumulated, and second, real life is too rich to draw out. The reason why I made up my mind to write this article is that I will go to the laboratory next month, and from now on I will step into a new field, which may be very, very busy, and I will also need to learn a lot of new knowledge, and I am afraid that I will forget the classification of turtles that I was familiar with, forget the characteristics of each turtle family, which is a very terrible thing, so I started to record my own humble opinions, so that I can spread my knowledge, which is also a very significant thing.
To get to the point:
At present, there are 13 genera of turtles in the world, namely: Pan Turtle Genus, Round Turtle Genus, Marginal Plate Turtle Genus, Tridopus Turtle Genus, Small-headed Turtle Genus, Turtle Genus, Slippery Turtle Genus, Spotted Turtle Genus, Asian Turtle Genus, Li turtle Genus, Malay Turtle Genus, Mountain Turtle Genus, Chinese Turtle Genus.
Except for the three genera of a subfamily that I crossed with the red line, the first two genera are extinct (the cross is a fossil marker), and the latter of the genus Shield Turtle has been abandoned, and the species under this genus are merged into the genus Lisbota.
So the extant turtles are:
Genus: Nubian turtle, Senegalese turtle
Genus Round Turtle: Obuli Round Turtle, Zambezi Round Turtle
Genus: Indian box turtle, Burmese box turtle, Sri Lanka box turtle
Three-clawed turtle genus: Three-clawed turtle
Genus Of the small-headed turtle: Indian turtle, Southeast Asian turtle, Burmese turtle
Shrew genus: Shrew, New Guinea shrew, Northern New Guinea shrew
Slippery turtle genus: slippery turtle, thorn turtle, Florida turtle
Spotted turtle genus: spotted turtle, juvenile laladibra turtle
Asian turtle genus: Indochina giant turtle
Turtle genus: Burmese peacock turtle, Indian peacock turtle, Ganges turtle, Ley's turtle, black turtle
Malay turtle genus: Malay turtle
Genus Mountain Turtle: Mountain Turtle
Chinese turtle genus: Chinese turtle, small turtle, sand turtle, northeast turtle
That is to say, if you do not count subspecies, there are 31 species of turtles in 13 genera in the world, which is the result of the latest statistics. Let me introduce these strange creatures one by one.
The first thing I'm most concerned about is the genus Pelochelys, which has three species underneath:
鼋 Pelochelys cantorii Gray, 1864 – Cantor's giant softshell turtle
New Guinean shrew Pelochelys bibroni (Owen, 1853) – New Guinea giant softshell turtle
Pelochelys signifera Webb, 2002 – Northern New Guinea giant softshell turtle
Because the domestic data is very confusing and backward, and the naming is not uniform, I hope that everyone will remember the Latin name of the species and not trust Baidu Encyclopedia too much. In the next introduction, I will also give the Latin name of each turtle, the English common name, the name and the year of naming, the survival and protection status of the latest information, the distribution area, etc.
Here to teach friends who have not yet seen how to read these materials, the following content will be much faster, as shown in the following figure, and so on:
IUCN=International Union for Conservation of Nature, specifically the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
TFTSG=Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, a turtle and turtle expert group under the IUCN
CITES=Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Washington Convention, Appendix 1 of which is equivalent to China's national first-level protected animals, Appendix 2 is equivalent to national second-level protected animals, and in the case of other provisions in China, the list of China's Wildlife Protection Laws shall prevail.
Don't be impatient, I will write the most basic knowledge clearly, and then I will do more with less. You may not be familiar with the Vulnerable A1cd+2cd (2000), which is the IUCN's endangered level and standard, and interested friends can read this layer, not only for turtles and turtles, but also for all animals and plants.
When the basics are finished, let's start formally talking about the genus Shrew.
Pelochelys cantorii:
The New Guinean shrew (Pelochelys bibroni), also known as the flower-backed shrew:
The New Guinean shrew is mostly found on the island of Papua, with evidence of the widest distribution from southern China to Papua Island, and even in Australia and the Philippines, but in recent years the New Guinea shrew has become extinct in the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins.
In the Papuan native language, the New Guinean shrew, pronounced "sokrere", means "earthquake", and it is second only to the shrew in the order freshwater turtle turtles, and can grow up to 1 meter and weigh up to 120 kg. The New Guinean shrew of origin not only survives in plain rivers, but also adapts to salty water environments such as deltas and estuaries, and because of this, it contains a biotoxin called "chelonitoxin", which can also be found in turtles, so that locals may cause serious food poisoning after preying on New Guinean shrews.
The New Guinean shrew has a diet of fish, shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and occasionally aquatic plants. Its feeding habits resemble those of a shrew, employing a lurking strategy, sinking to the bottom of the river sand and waiting for its prey to be hooked.
The spawning period is in September, 22 to 45 eggs are laid at a time, often sharing a beach with pig-nosed turtles (two-clawed turtles), and even laying eggs in the nests of saltwater crocodiles, possibly to scare away other predators and improve egg survival.
Its natural enemy is the saltwater crocodile, but the most important threat is still humans, the local people often hunt them to eat meat and eggs and use their back armor to make sacrificial masks, poisonous and eat, do not know what the indigenous people think.
The first-year larvae of the New Guinea shrew often appear in the domestic pet market, crowned with fancy names such as the flower-backed shrew, the Asian shrew, etc., and some even pretend to be the shrew in a vain attempt to mix the fish (the picture and text are not related), the biggest difference with the shrew is the pattern on the back and neck, the slightly larger individual back of the shrew is monochromatic, without these patterns, even if it is the larvae of the shrew, although some individuals have insect patterns on the back, but there will never be longitudinal stripes on the neck, which is the biggest feature of the New Guinea shrew, in addition, The sausage mouth and thick neck of the New Guinea shrew are very pronounced in juveniles, even more so than in juvenile shrews.
On the other hand, it can be guessed from the fact that new Guinean shrew seedlings of the same size are imported into the country every year, and the origin is in bulk egg collection or breeding on farms. It is worth mentioning that the new Guinea shrew seedling survival rate is very low, may be less than 30 percent, one is not suitable for the climate, because the origin belongs to the tropics, long-distance smuggling is likely to not last winter, even if the first year of heating, the second year of the third year will have a basin large, it is impossible to heat for a long time, second, many people ordinary turtle seedlings are not well raised, let alone accustomed to the high water quality requirements of the rivers and shrews.
The Pelochelys signifera is also known as the brown shrew:
As you can see, the Northern New Guinea shrew is a new species officially confirmed in 2002, and the other two big brothers published in the 19th century compared to the information is really very small, even IUCN and TFTSG are unrated or lack of data, only know that the North New Guinea shrew exists in the northern lowlands of Papua Island, so the survival status of the species is not known, but in the name of the shrew species in one or two hundred years, the entire shrew species is accelerating the demise, Papua Island is not large, To the south is the New Guinean shrew, which is often preyed upon by the indigenous people, and how good can the North New Guinea shrew be in the north?
Here to borrow two pictures from Mr. Cai's article from the Chengdu Institute of Biology, the picture above is the seedling of the Northern New Guinea shrew, it can be seen that its body color is darker, there are fine black spots on the back, the following picture is the picture used by Webb when publishing the article in 2002, A is the North New Guinea shrew adult, B is the shrew adult, although the photo is black and white, but in comparison, it can still be seen that the former body color is deeper, and there are obvious spots on the back.
Then there is the genus Chitra, under which there are three species:
Chitra chitra Nutaphand, Southeast Asian turtle, 1986 – Asian narrow-headed softshell turtle
There are two subspecies under it:
（暹罗小头鳖） C. c. chitra Nutaphand, 1986 – Siamese narrow-headed softshell turtle
（爪哇小头鳖） C. c. javanensis McCord and Pritchard, 2003 – Javanese narrow-headed softshell turtle
Chitra indica Gray, Indian narrow-headed shelled turtle
缅甸小头鳖 Chitra vandijki McCord and Pritchard, 2003 – Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle
The small-headed turtle, also known as the striated turtle, is naturally due to the distinct geometric markings on its dorsal carapace. Malaysia once had a breeding farm to breed species of this genus as an international pet trade, but now the official website has been closed, the existence of breeding grounds is still a mystery, this genus has always been considered a single species, containing only one species, namely the small-headed turtle, it was named by Gray in 1830, originally Trionyx indicus, after Gray in 1844 for its new genus to govern, that is, Chitra indica, the genus name Chitra is a common female name in India, Used to describe the characteristics of this turtle, the species name indica indicates that the type specimen was produced in India. It is widely distributed, but it has always been considered to be Chitra indica in Southeast Asia, and in fact they are another species, the turtle free market has appeared in the Southeast Asian region species, and the earliest model species named from India are rarely seen, less common in the pet market, but in recent years there have been juveniles in Japan. The small-headed turtle from Southeast Asia still uses Chitra indica as its scientific name in various atlases, and was not recognized until 1986, when it was distinguished and named Chitra chitra by Nutaphand, but before that, Jaekel had been named Chitra selenkae in 1911, and should be named 1911 according to the priority rate, but Chitra chitra has been widely adopted, and the change will bring many troubles. Thus the turtles native to Southeast Asia still use Chitra chitra as their scientific name and Chitra selenkae as their synonym. In 2003, McCord and Pritchard discovered and named a new species, Chitra vandijki, the Burmese turtle. Thus, three species have been named, the earliest type species called the Indian small-headed turtle, the Southeast Asian small-headed turtle from Southeast Asia (there are two subspecies of the Siamese small-headed turtle from Thailand and the Javan small-headed turtle from the Indonesian island of Java), and the Burmese small-headed turtle from Myanmar.
About their differentiation method: Southeast Asian small-headed turtle dorsal carapace background color, there are typical yellow geometric stripes, vivid and clear, until adulthood still does not fade, the dorsal stripes in the dorsal carapace at the root of the neck converge into one; the markings on the indian small-headed turtle dorsal carapace are not obvious geometric lines, but a mixture of many circular spots, the periphery is the most obvious, the overall appearance of the markings are many and chaotic, the background color is light, the marking contrast is not as sharp as that of the Southeast Asian turtle, the markings will become blurred after adulthood, and the longitudinal stripes on the back of the neck meet behind the head. The Southeast Asian turtle, on the other hand, intersects slightly in front of the dorsal carapace to form a line that continues to extend forward; the Burmese turtle is somewhere in between, neither the regular geometric stripes of the Southeast Asian turtle, nor the dorsal carapace like the Indian turtle, and the stripes on the back of its neck meet behind the head like the Indian turtle.
Pictured below is the Southeast Asian turtle
Pictured below is the Indian turtle
‘’
Pictured below is the Burmese turtle
Here's a picture I accidentally saw that indicates the difference between the Siamese turtle subspecies of the Southeast Asian turtle, probably from a screenshot of a document, if a friend knows the source please let me know the source.
The picture is very unclear, but I still recognized part of the text in the picture, A is the Indian turtle, B is the Burmese turtle, C is the Siamese turtle, D is the Javan turtle, the upper right is the type specimen of the Burmese turtle, and the lower right is the Javan turtle. I marked the points that ABCD needs to be compared with the red line, you can see the following picture: there is no intersection between the eyes of the Indian turtle turtle, there are many intersections between the eyes of the Burmese turtle, and the siamese turtle and the Javan turtle have a single intersection before the eyes, but the intersection of the Javan turtle is X-shaped, and there are dark spots on the lips.
The Indian chitra indica is also known as the Indian turtle:
Good English reading ability can first look at this literature, a paper published in 2009, there are all aspects of the Indian turtle, in the following I will introduce the Indian turtle according to the main points of this information.
The reason why I first wrote about the Indian turtle is because its distribution in the Indian subcontinent is very extensive, and it is natural to become the most well-studied species in the genus Officinalis, of course, the wide distribution does not mean that the number is large, in fact, even the origin of them is rarely seen, the distribution area is not continuous, showing a small range of fragments distribution.
Some of its naming process, body description and other complicated things are not repeated here, interested friends can read the above literature, here only to say some essentials or I think interesting content:
1. The neck of the Indian turtle has a "V" shaped pattern;
2. The length of the longitudinal axis of the largest specimen is 71.5cm, the maximum length of the field individual measurement is 110cm, and the maximum weight is 265kg, generally speaking, the female is larger than the male;
3. Chromosomes 2n=66;
4. Distributed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal in the Indus, Ganges, Godavari, Muhanadi And other river basins;
5. Living in the sand bottom of clear rivers, using a sand bottom ambush strategy similar to that of the shrew to prey on fish, shrimp, crabs, frogs, mollusks, small fish that can be eaten in one bite will be sucked into the mouth, and the big fish will be torn into pieces and swallowed, and the species of the shrew genus is not the same as the Indian small turtle is currently a pure carnivore;
6. This one is very interesting: when caught, it will catapult the neck out, hit the target with its mouth and nose instead of biting, its power can even damage fishing boats, there have been poachers who have been hit by an adult male Indian turtle with a blow to break the collarbone, there have been many incidents of Indian turtles being caught and attacking people's faces in the Ganges River Valley, and bites have also been recorded. When caught, the Indian turtle releases secretions with a musk-scented odor;
7. In the central India of the Ganges River Basin, the Indian turtle often lays eggs from August to mid-September (February to May in Bangladesh and January to February in Nepal), often at night, the nest is flask-shaped on the beach, the mouth is small and large, the diameter is 15×23 cm, 8 to 135 meters from the water's edge, the eggs are oval, fragile, 25.4 to 28.2 (average 26.8) mm, weigh 10.0 ~ 18.0 (average 10.4) g, average litter of 118 eggs, the highest record 193, incubation temperature 25.5 ~ 36.0 °C, incubation cycle of 40 ~ 70 (average 55) days, generally speaking, eggs are laid in the dry water period, seedlings will hatch in the rainy season, seedlings are 39 ~ 40 mm long, weight 7 ~ 10 g;
8. Indian turtles are very difficult to see throughout the distribution area, but there is a local exception, that is, Sukul in Pakistan, probably due to the Sukur Dam, in the lower reaches of the local Indus River, the Indian turtle becomes one of the five most common turtles and turtles, and human activities have caused the interruption of their distribution area;
9. In the distribution area of India, adult individuals have been difficult to see, the visit learned that in the local turtle and turtle market, Indian turtles account for about 2 to 3% of the entire market, far less than the number 15 years ago;
10. Before the 1980s, although the meat of the Indian smallhead turtle was considered inferior, a considerable number of individuals were still traded as food, and now, people have targeted the skirt of the Indian small turtle, which is cooked and dried after the skirt is killed and cut, and then transported to Bangladesh or Nepal, and finally appears in Chinese medicine stores to be boiled as a traditional Chinese medicine soup. A 650g dry skirt may come from a 30kg individual and can sell for 2000 rupees (about $50), and the second-channel dealer can sell for 3500 rupees (about $87). The locals along the Ganges also eat their eggs and meat. Indians use a rolling hook array called "hazara", similar to the broken grandchildren of our fishermen, who also use large purse seines to block the estuary during the spawning season, and even dive with iron probes to find Indian turtles hidden in the sand;
11. In Bangladesh, the Indian turtle is considered a delicacy, often complained of being out of stock, and although rare in number, fishermen stab them to death with iron harpoons once they are found at the bottom of the river. Fishermen are good at taking advantage of the benthic characteristics of the Indian small-headed turtle, using a rolling hook perpendicular to the riverbed, and once it is hooked to its skirt, it will be caught in a chaotic line and then caught ashore. In addition, occasionally it will be caught by a trawl;
12. In Nepal, the Indian turtle is also delicious, and its dried bones and meat are used to treat viral infections, in addition to direct capture, nepal is also a lot of individuals killed by bycatch;
13. Relatively speaking, large adult individuals are rarely captured, they are extremely powerful, can tear through the trawl, and because of the high fat content leads to poor quality of the skirt, so the skirt is mainly taken from juvenile individuals, and often mixed with another large local turtle Ganges turtle, these better quality skirts are eventually eaten;
14. Because of the highly aquatic and specialized body structure of the Indian turtle, coupled with the large number of individuals, only a small number of individuals survive after being transported to the market, and are often slaughtered on the spot after fishing, and the individuals transported to the market are also injured and survive soon;
15. Habitat development, including damming, deforestation, water pollution, river siltation, overfishing and other factors, all put enormous pressure on their survival;
16. Endangered and conservation level:
IUCN: Endangered
India: Grade II protected animal, joined the Ganges Turtle Conservation Project in India
Nepal: Red Book of Endangered Animals
Pakistan: Tertiary protected animals in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces
17. Artificial feeding: deep water, clean bottom sand, can not be polycultured, only live fish can be used for food, dead fish can be accepted after breeding, newborn seedlings can be fed blood worms, red worms, water fleas, etc., do not eat snails;
18. Several conservation programs are currently underway, turtle eggs are collected from nests by scientists to help hatch, and seedlings are released to their places of origin after feeding for a period of time.
The Southeast Asian chitra chitra includes the subspecies Siamese chitra (C. chitra). c. chitra) and the Javanese turtle (C. chitra) c. javanensis）：
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle fact file
As for the information that southeast Asian turtles are currently aware of, I will use a paragraph of the original text, a paragraph Chinese to the effect:
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle description
The magnificent striped narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra chitra) is one of the largest freshwater turtles , with a carapace reaching impressive lengths of up to 122 centimetres . This species is easily distinguished from other softshell turtles by the exquisite, boldly striped pattern of dark wavy lines on the upper surface of its head, neck, and shell .
The striped narrow-headed softshell turtle has a light brown to yellowish-browncarapace which can be rounded or slightly elongated , and the plastron is cream-coloured to pinkish-white, with no pattern or markings . The head is long and narrow, with the eyes close to the tip of the snout . Adult male striped narrow-headed softshell turtles can be distinguished from females and juveniles by their longer, thicker tails.
Also known as：Southeast Asian narrow-headed softshell turtle, striped giant soft-shelled turtle.
Size：Carapace length: up to 122 cm
Weight：up to 202 kg
Description: One of the largest freshwater turtle turtles, covered with geometric stripes, the appearance is easy to distinguish from other species, the dorsal carapace is yellow-brown, the ventral carapace is white, the head is long and narrow, the eyes are close to the tip of the mouth and nose, adult individuals can determine gender by tail, and male tails are long and thick. The maximum nail length is 122 cm, and the maximum weight is 202 kg.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle biology
This aquatic species lives and feeds in the water, rarely venturing on land, possibly only doing so to nest. The striped narrow-headed softshell turtle digs a 50 to 75 centimetre-deep nest cavity into the river bank, into which 60 to 117 round, white eggs are deposited before the rainy season. After the eggs have been laid, the female will use her forelimbs to cover them up with sand .
The striped narrow-headed softshell turtle is carnivorous, feeding on fish, prawns, crabs and clams. To catch fish, the neck is rapidly outstretched and the fish is seized in the mouth as it swims by .
Habits: Completely aquatic, unless spawning is rarely ashore, the spawning point excavated on the river bank is 50 to 75 cm deep, laying 60 to 117 white eggs before the rainy season, and then burying the sand back to the dug spawning point with the forelimbs. Carnivorous, eating fish, shrimp, crabs and mussels, using the same ambush strategy as the shrew, quickly extending its neck to catch the prey that passes by.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle range
The two subspecies of the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle have slightly different distributions. Chitra chitra chitra is restricted to the Mae Klong and Chao Phraya basins of western Thailand and the Tahan river basin of Peninsular Malaysia, while Chitra chitra javanica is found only on the islands of Sumatra and Java in Indonesia.
Distribution: The two subspecies have different distribution areas, the Siamese turtle is distributed in the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins of western Thailand and the Dahan Creek basin in Peninsular Malaysia, while the Javanese turtle is distributed in Sumatra and Java in Indonesia.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle habitat
A freshwater aquatic species, the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle prefers large rivers with clear, flowing water and sandy bottoms.
Habitat: Clean flowing rivers with bottom sand.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle status
The striped narrow-headed softshell turtle is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List and is listed on Appendix II of CITES .
Endangered: IUCN: Critically Endangered [Just one step away from extinction in the wild, which shows that it is more dangerous than the Indian turtle,CITES: Appendix 2.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle threats
Like many tortoises and turtles of Southeast Asia, the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle has been intensively exploited and over-collected from the wild for the Asian food market and international pet trade. Indeed, adult striped narrow-headed softshell turtles are prized as status symbol pets in Thailand, where commercial breeding farms have often taken dozens of animals from the wild without producing a single captive-bred hatchling.
In addition, the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle has suffered badly from habitat destruction caused by deforestation in Indonesia, as a result of conversion into agricultural land, human settlements, logging operations and forest fires.
In Thailand, river pollution and alteration, including sand dredging and dam and reservoir construction, have also dramatically impacted turtle populations. Striped narrow-headed softshell turtles are now frequently seen in reservoirs or in densely settled downstream river sections, rather than their preferred habitat of clear, fresh-flowing water. Periodic water releases from reservoirs put important nesting sites at risk of inundation.
These combined threats have left the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle in a highly precarious position, so much so that, in 2003, it was officially recognised as one of the world’s top 25 most endangered turtles.
Threat factors: Like other turtles and tortoises in Asia, the Southeast Asian turtle is overfished or traded internationally, and it is worth mentioning that in Thailand, the giant Southeast Asian turtle is used as a symbol of social status, and the local breeding grounds catch adult individuals but have not yet bred seedlings. In addition, there are fewer and fewer individuals in Indonesia due to habitat destruction. Thailand's river water pollution and river bottom dredging and reservoir dams are seriously affecting their populations, and now Southeast Asian turtles are often seen clustering in reservoirs or downstream isolated sections of the river, unable to return to the clear flowing waters needed for survival, and regular reservoir opening and flooding has also dealt a devastating blow to eggs laid on the lower banks. Because of these threats, in 2003 the Southeast Asian turtle became one of the 25 most endangered species of turtles and tortoises.
Striped narrow-headed softshell turtle conservation
The striped narrow-headed softshell turtle is given national protection in Indonesia under the law on Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems. This prohibits utilisation of the species in any form, except with special permission for circumstances such as research or captive breeding. In Thailand, this turtle is specifically protected under the Wild Animals Reservation and Protection ACT (WARPA), which controls hunting, trade, possession, import, export and commercial breeding of wildlife .
Furthermore, numerous protected areas with important wetland habitat that may contain this species exist in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, where collecting or disturbance of wildlife is prohibited, although its presence in these protected areas is largely unconfirmed. However, enforcement of protection laws and prevention of encroachment into protected areas are often constrained by lack of resources .
Captive breeding projects have been established for this turtle in Thailand, but these have been only moderately successful, with the species so far breeding poorly under captive conditions . Thus, it has been advocated that the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle, as one of the world’s 25 most endangered turtles, should be upgraded to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), with prohibitions on hunting for food and the pet trade strictly enforced .
Additionally, the formation of protected areas within the striped narrow-headed softshell turtle’s range must continue if there is to be any chance of winning the battle to save this huge, exquisite, Critically Endangered turtle.
Conservation: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have all given them legal protection and demarcation of protected areas, but the role is limited, the implementation is not enough, Thailand's official conservation agencies have achieved success in conservation, but because of the difficulty of captivity, the conservation of offspring is very limited, so we recommend upgrading it to CITES Appendix 1 species, strictly prohibiting hunting and pet trade, hoping that the reserve can play its due role to protect this huge beautiful and extremely endangered turtle.
I've made a picture, you'll see, this one is very beautiful
I hope that everyone has an intuitive understanding of the IUCN's endangerment rating, for example, the critical danger (CR) level of the Southeast Asian turtle is only one step away from the extinction (EW) in the wild, and once the wild extinction (EW), the final extinction (EX) is at hand.
Burmese turtle chitra vandijki:
Burmese turtle, the information is blank, not even IUCN and ARKive are included, but it is certain that the Burmese turtle is Van Dijk's turtle. From the limited picture data, it can be seen that its pattern is between the Indian turtle and the Southeast Asian turtle, which is not messy with the pattern of the Indian turtle, nor the geometric pattern of the Southeast Asian turtle, but it is a school of its own.
Next, starting from the Cyclanorbinae subfamily, the "Pan Turtle subfamily", that is, the "Pan Turtle Subfamily", that is, the "Turtle Family" mentioned in the top article "Unique Petal Turtle Family" written by the Turtle Edition of the Turtle Turtle Edition, there are three genera under it, namely: The Pan Turtle Genus (Cyclanorbis), the Round Turtle Genus (Cycloderma), and the Edge Plate Turtle Genus (Lissemys).
The following is revised and improved on the basis of the original text: turtles of the subfamily Disc turtle have a special structure called femoral flap, which refers to the two half-moon shaped flaps on the inner hind limbs of the upper hind limbs of this type of turtle carapace, which can partially cover the hind limbs. The English name Flapshell Turtles in Flap is the brim of the hat, the meaning of the hood, also refers to this structure. This construction is unique among turtles and even all turtles.
According to this, they are grouped into a single subfamily and form a family of their own. Therefore, the turtle family is divided into two subfamily, the turtle subfamily and the disc turtle subfamily, the turtle subfamily is the backbone of the evolutionary development of the turtle family, there are more species, and the pan turtle subfamily is a side branch of the evolution and development of the turtle family, with fewer species, and only three genera and seven species, all distributed in the tropical regions of the Old World (Asia-Africa). Two of these are Africans, Cyclanorbis and Cycloderma, two of which are lesser known. One genus in Asia, the familiar genus Lissemys, administers three species. In particular, it is necessary to mention the term "edge plate turtle", some people write round plate turtle, it is not accurate, they do not understand the meaning of the term "edge plate", the edge plate is the bone plate under the edge shield of the turtle turtle, most turtles lost this structure in the evolutionary process, no edge plate is regarded as a major feature of turtle anatomy, only the edge plate turtle still retains part of the edge plate, which is very special in the turtle family, "edge plate turtle" a name derived from this, it reflects the anatomical characteristics of the species.
The following are three genera, Lissemys, which have three species under them:
Indian box turtle Lissemys punctata Bonnaterre, 1789 – Indian flapshell turtle
There are three subspecies under it:
L. p. andersoni Webb, 1980 – Spotted northern Indian flapshell turtle
L. p. vittata Peters, 1854 – central Indian flapshell turtle
L. p. punctata Bonnaterre, 1789 – southern Indian flapshell turtle
Burmese box turtle Lissemys scutata Peters, 1868 – Burmese flapshell turtle
Sri Lankan box turtle Lissemys ceylonensis Gray, 1856 – Sri Lankan flapshell turtle
Lissemys punctata andersoni:
The reason why the North Indian box turtle is taken out separately is because its pattern is unique in the entire genus of plate turtles, and I have always kept a North Indian box turtle and know its habits well. If you want to write about all aspects of the North Indian box turtle, I have hundreds of photos alone, and I am afraid that I can't finish a post, so I will simply record my personal experience of this species. North Indian box turtle and Chinese turtle, turtle and other benthic turtles are different, it likes to swim in the middle and upper layers of the water surface, almost do not turn the sand, will not lurk in the sand bottom, it can be said that it does not like to move, its body is more rounded and uplifted than the benthic turtle, these characteristics make its physical consumption is very large, need to eat constantly to replenish physical strength, so in addition to sleeping at night, no matter when I go to the aquarium during the day, I will see it swimming with its head out to swim to find something to eat, and the exuberance of appetite has also created the performance of its relatives.
The North Indian box turtle does not have high requirements for water quality, and its origin can often be found in places with poor water quality, so its recipe is very extensive, including turtle food, fish and shrimp, earthworms, animal offal, carrion and even steamed buns. In the environment without sunback can survive, but easy to cause calcium deficiency and body color whitening, further development of the skirt curl, I this first year in the hands of others to raise, so these problems have occurred, to my hands after raising a year and a half, I created a sunburn environment at any time, found that it is still very fond of sunbathing, as soon as there is sunlight will climb on the shore to bask, the direct sunlight temperature is very high even when the sun is hot, especially when the skin is damaged, most of the time stay on the shore is not willing to go into the water.
Its nose is shorter than the Chinese turtle, but not as short as the shrew, the nostrils are large and obviously like a pig's nose, the lips are relatively thick, and when eating, it will first inhale into the mouth and then chew, so although its occlusal muscles are also very developed, but almost no bites occur, at the beginning of breeding, always feel that it can not bite anything but eat some earthworms, in fact, after a period of growth, its bite force is also very strong, including the head of the fish can be bitten and swallowed.
Its tail is very short for both male and female, but the shorter female is almost invisible, I am only male, it can completely indent the head and limbs into the shell, so it is called "box turtle", but unlike the closed shell turtle, it only has the abdominal carapace of the front chest that can be slightly closed to protect the head, while the abdominal carapace at the limbs cannot be closed, and the femoral flap of the hind limbs can play a certain protective role.
Like other subspecies, the North Indian box turtle sleeps in summer to survive the dry season in India, and can survive up to 160 days. But their biggest threat factor is being eaten by the locals, the base of box turtles in India is very large, so the indiscriminate harvesting is very serious, especially in India's Diwali Festival, although it claims that "the light drives away the darkness, and the good overcomes the evil", but it is very ironic that this day is the disaster of the box turtle, countless turtles and turtles, especially the Indian box turtles, are slaughtered and eaten, and the bones are piled up. In addition, traditional medicine in India and China believes that its shell can treat a variety of diseases, such as skin diseases and tuberculosis (which are combined with eggs), which has also caused a sharp decline in their numbers.
The North Indian box turtle, arguably the most beloved of all the turtles I've ever come into contact with, has an extreme curiosity about everything, coupled with its penchant for swimming on the surface of the water, a bottomless pit-like appetite and an almost never-biting habit that fills its interactive skills. When I had not yet been exposed to the North Indian box turtle, I had communicated with a friend who specialized in raising box turtles, and he was like me hopelessly like this cute little life after raising the box turtle, for many years, I had been in contact with countless turtles and turtles, and still thought that the box turtle was a turtle and turtle "strange", it was simply a curious baby, staring at a pair of magical green beans all day long to watch you swim around, without the slightest fear of humans, you put your hand over it and it will come to smell, see, and even want to climb up, everything I put into the tank Whether it is another turtle or a thermometer, fishing, it will swim over for the first time and study it carefully. And in the long period of observation, let me have the illusion that it is intelligent, or at least smarter than the average turtle and turtle, after all, a species with such a strong curiosity cannot be stupid, it can understand that I am not a threat to it, understand that I will give it food, understand that it must not bite me, understand what the other turtles and turtles in the tank have to do with it, understand that the newly installed transparent acrylic sundeck can climb up, and understand that the rotten skin must not be put into the water before it is good. All in all, it is thinking about its environment and trying to adapt to new changes.
A set of pictures tells you how many heart turtles north Indian box turtles have, pay attention to the small eyes that emerge from the water on the left side of the picture!
Since it is a north "Indian" box turtle, then naturally indispensable To Indian characteristics, just kidding, I want to spit out is the sexual maturity age of the North Indian box turtle, it is actually 2 to 3 years old [others or babies it has become an old driver], I am just 2 and a half years old, no wonder this young man is everywhere to get into trouble, whether people want to or not, into adulthood. And the data shows that its tintin is oval, very thick (the penis is thick and oval), courtship and mating process is very interesting, the young man extends his neck and forelimbs to hit the girl's dorsal carapace, if the girl wants to, he will shake his head up and down three or four times, the boy will respond with the same action and repeat it continuously, and then the girl sinks to the bottom, the boy rides up to the indescribable stage, and the mating enters the end, The boy would very emotionally let go of the salty pig's hand and turn his head to face the girl [observe her expression, dirty!] The battle lasts up to 15 minutes, during which the girl may remain in position and drag the lad around [forgive me for not being able to imagine] until the end of the fight. （Courtship and mating behavior is unique. Courtship begins when the male begins stroking the female’s carapace with his neck and limbs extended. When receptive, the female faces the male with her neck extended and they begin bobbing their heads vertically three or four times. This behavior is repeated, then mating begins when the female settles to the bottom and is mounted by the male. Near the end of mating, the male releases his grip and rotates to face the opposite direction from her. They remain attached in this position for as long as 15 minutes. During this time, the female may drag the male about. The pair then separates and copulation ends.）
Lissemys punctata punctata:
Life habits and other aspects of reference to the North Indian box turtle, the appearance of olive monochromatic, no North Indian box turtle like the spot and pattern, the head pattern is also relatively clean, please pay attention to the photos of the abdominal nail, a row of small bone plates on the skirt of the circle is the so-called "edge plate", remember the edge plate characteristics of the South Indian box turtle, the following will be compared with the Appearance of the Burmese box turtle for identification.
Lissemys punctata vittata:
The Middle Indian box turtle is located in the transition area between the North Indian box turtle and the South Indian box turtle, it and the North Indian box turtle have many overlapping distribution sites, the living habits refer to the North Indian box turtle, the back carapace does not have the same spots and patterns as the North Indian box turtle, similar to the olive monochrome of the South Indian box turtle, but the Middle Indian box turtle often has a black longitudinal head stripe, of course, this is not absolute, the marginal plate turtle genus in the following will be a special case.
The distribution range of the three subspecies of the Indian box turtle is roughly as shown in the figure, separated by two dotted lines.
There is a natural hybridization phenomenon between subspecies and subspecies, such as the following two are hybrid species of North Indian box turtle and Middle Indian box turtle, they may have a dorsal carapace close to the olive monochromatic color of the Middle Indian box turtle, but the head pattern is like the North Indian box turtle Generally has yellow spots, or although there are spots on the back of the North Indian box turtle, but the spots are messy, the body color is dull, and the headprint has traces of the Middle Indian box turtle.
But one thing is the same, all are sold by Ah San.
This is a breeding manual written by foreigners, the focus is not to be less than 25 degrees, that is, remember, most parts of the country need to be heated for winter, can not hibernate, the most suitable temperature of 25 ~ 31 degrees, seedlings 28 ~ 31 degrees will grow normally.
Male and female identification: In full adulthood, the male is more slender, the tail is slightly longer, and the tail shield is slightly prominent; the female is more rounded, the tail is almost invisible, and the tail shield is not prominent.
Sri Lankan box turtle (Lissemys ceylonensis):
The Sri Lankan box turtle is only part of the South Indian box turtle in the traditional classification, while in the DNA classification it proves to be a separate species. Judging from the few photos in the literature, I don't know whether the individual photographed is older or itself, the Sri Lankan box turtle feels thicker than other box turtles, the back armor is smooth, there is no spot pattern, the head is also very clean, and the body is like oil soaked in oil. Of course, they are only distributed in Sri Lanka, and this geographical isolation can still be quickly identified with the South Indian box turtle.
Burmese box turtle (Lissemys scutata):
Once classified as a subspecies of the Indian box turtle, the Burmese box turtle was classified as a separate species by Webb in 1982, and although controversial, most scientists regard it as a separate species because of the support of DNA classification in recent years. It is found in The Irrawaddy and Salween Rivers in Myanmar, as well as in northeastern Thailand. The dorsal carapace is usually plain olive-brown , although juveniles may have spots , and some adults may also have blurred reticulations. Because most of this species is distributed in Myanmar, the number is also relatively large, so there are often adult individuals flowing through the border of Yunnan in China, but it is often eaten by border people as wild game, known as "bread fish", there have been inquiry posts in the bar, which is actually the Burmese box turtle.
Let's talk about some heavy things, about the comparison and identification of Burmese box turtles and South Indian box turtles, which has no information or wrong information in China, what is the most authoritative information? Of course, it is the first-hand literature of professional researchers, and I dare not speak casually until I have consulted enough professional literature, and now I want to say that the comparative identification method is based on this when it was first classified according to morphological and anatomical characteristics, so it is the authoritative method second only to mtDNA classification.
Before introducing this method, we must first introduce the anatomical features and technical terms of the subfamily Disc Turtle and the subfamily Turtle in the turtle family:
As shown in the figure, the callosum of turtles and the callosum of the human brain are not a concept, and the callosum here refers to the anatomical marks of the ventral oracle plate of turtles on the ventral surface of the body, which is tough and rough. There are more callosums in the subfamily Disc turtle, mainly reflected in the middle and upper abdominal nails, which are related to the upper plate and inner plate morphology in the following, in addition to the disc turtle subfamily also has a femoral valve structure, which has been mentioned above.
As shown in the figure, this is a schematic diagram of the abdominal oracle bone plate of the subfamily Disc turtle and the turtle subfamily. Both have five kinds of bone plates from beginning to end, namely the upper plate, the inner plate, the tongue plate, the lower plate, and the sword plate, but the upper plate of the disc turtle subfamily is significantly larger, and the inner plate is rounded and protruding, which will form a callosum on the surface of the body; while the upper plate of the turtle subfamily is smaller, and the inner plate is mostly inverted "V" shape, and no callosum is formed or not obvious on the surface of the body. The tongue plate of the subfamily Laminae fuses with the lower plate, called the hho(hyo-hypoplastral ossification); while the tongue plate of the subfamily tortoise is separated from the lower plate, with a gaped connection.
The marginal plate turtle genus in the subfamily Of the plate turtle is more special, it has a row of small bone pieces called the edge of the skirt called the edge plate (ppo, posterior peripheral ossicles), this structure will gradually ossify and form during the growth of the genus, the Burmese box turtle and the Indian box turtle Edge plate are very different in generation law, morphology, which is also one of the basis for Webb in 1982 to classify the Burmese box turtle as a separate species, we will describe this difference in detail below. (Note: The macro turtle in the figure below refers to Nilssonia hurum, Chinese scientific name is indian peacock turtle)
In the figure below, A is the back view of the Indian box turtle, B is the ventral view, n = nuchal, pn = anterior neck plate (prenuchal), hho = sublingual plate (hyo-hypoplastral ossification), ppo = edge plate (posterior peripheral ossicles)
In the figure below, A is the enlarged view of the front neck plate of the Indian box turtle, B and C are different sections of the front neck plate, n = neck plate (nuchal), pn = front neck plate (prenuchal), here is an introduction to the front neck plate, which refers to the unique bony structure of some disc turtle subfamilies, which can be closed downward when the head is retracted into the shell, and plays the role of sealing and protecting the head.
This is a detailed picture of different sizes of edge plates.
This is a picture of the edge plate of my own North Indian box turtle, which is not very obvious because it has only just begun to grow long edge plates.
【Important】 Identification of Burmese box turtles and Indian box turtles (especially South Indian box turtles with similar body color):
Both the marginal plate and the anterior neck plate of the genus Marginal Turtle are ossified during individual growth, later than the bone plates of other parts, where the margin plates are ossified earlier than the anterior neck plates. The edge plate and the front neck plate are free bones, there is no bony connection with the main body of the dorsal carapace, and their role is the same, all for better closure to protect the limbs and head when closed, the front neck plate protects the head and forelimbs, and the edge plate protects the hind limbs. When the individual nail length reaches at least 70 mm, the margin plate ossification begins, and the general margin plate ossification begins at about 90 to 100 mm long, and the ossification of the edge plate is irregular and asymmetrical, but there is an important difference between the Burmese box turtle and the Indian box turtle -
[Indian box turtle: 1. The number of margin plates on each side is less than 9, and the margin plate morphology is relatively large; 2. The first margin plate from beginning to end is larger than other margin plates; 3. The callosum of the inner plate is usually smaller or medium and forms later] (Note: The first margin plate of the North Indian box turtle is larger, and the inner plate callosum is smaller)
[Burmese box turtle: 1. The number of margin plates on each side is more than 9, and the margin plate morphology is relatively fine; 2. The second margin plate from beginning to end is larger than the first margin plate; 3. The inner plate callosum is usually larger and forms earlier]
Combined with the picture below, the following figure is the edge plate morphology of the Indian box turtle in different periods, and it can be seen that the edge plate only begins to appear when the nail grows more than 70mm, the shape is coarse, the first edge plate is larger, and the number of edge plates is less than 9 per side.
The figure below is the edge plate morphology of the Burmese box turtle, with more than 9 plates on each side, the morphology is fine, and the rear edge plate is larger than the first edge plate.
This difference was used by Webb as a classification basis as early as 1982, but somehow the domestic data has never mentioned, the following figure is the picture in the original document of Webb, A, B, C is the Indian box turtle, D, E is the Burmese box turtle, it can be clearly seen that the difference between the shape and quantity of its edge plate.
Let's take a look at the photos of the real thing, the picture below is the Burmese box turtle, please pay attention to the observation points I said above, I have marked it with a red circle, the number of edge plates, the size of the first edge plate, and then observe the callosum of the inner plate by the way, although the individual development degree is different, but the general direction is the same.
Compare the number of rim plates of the South Indian box turtle, the size of the first margin plate, and the undeveloped inner plate callosum.
Regarding the third point of identification, the size and formation time of the inner plate callosum, please compare the following two pictures of similar body size, the above picture is my North Indian box turtle, the inner plate callosum is obviously developed late, the following picture is the Burmese box turtle, the inner plate callosum is obviously developed earlier.
Finally, a summary of the genus Marginal Plate Turtle is made, the triangle is the Sri Lankan box turtle, the solid circle is the South Indian box turtle, the hollow circle is the North Indian box turtle, the diamond shape is the Middle Indian box turtle, and the square is the Burmese box turtle. The individual has spots that are separated exactly by the two lines in the figure.
The picture below is a group photo of all members, a is a North Indian box turtle, b is the spotted gradient individual of the Middle Indian box turtle (carrying the mitochondrial gene of the Middle Indian box turtle), c is the spotless gradient individual of the North Indian box turtle (carrying the mitochondrial gene of the North Indian box turtle), b and c These two individuals are found in the Indian state of Odisha (see map below), this area is the area where the North Indian box turtle and the Middle Indian box turtle meet, so hybridization is very likely, whose mitochondrial gene is nothing more than the mother. d is the Middle Indian box turtle, e is the South Indian box turtle, f is the Sri Lankan box turtle, and g is the Burmese box turtle.
The picture below is a close-up of the heads of all members, a is the North Indian box turtle, b is the Middle Indian box turtle, c is the South Indian box turtle, d is the Sri Lankan box turtle, and e is the Burmese box turtle. Sri Lankan box turtles may have head markings in juvenile life, similar to the South Indian box turtle, The Middle Indian box turtle or the Burmese box turtle.