Southern Vietnamese box turtle

Southern Vietnamese box turtle
Southern Vietnamese box turtle Cuora (galbinifrons) picturata
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Geoemydidae
Genus:	Cuora
Species:	C. picturata
Binomial name
Cuora picturata Lehr, Fritz & Obst, 1998
Synonyms
Cistoclemmys picturata Cuora galbinifrons picturata

The southern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata) is endemic to the southern mountainous regions of Vietnam, and possibly also occurring in extreme eastern Cambodia and southern Laos. It is known only from

provinces.

This species was initially described as a subspecies of

, though, in osteology, genetics and morphology than is Cuora picturata to either one. Thus, this variety probably truly deserves species status.

This species has the highest-domed carapace of all Cuora species, the shape resembling a conquistador helmet. While the head coloration of Cuora galbinifrons subspecies is highly variable even in different populations, this is not the case with C. picturata, whose head is always yellow with a fine, greyish reticulation. They are commonly found in tropical, moist, and broadleaf evergreen forests.^[4]

References

• Lehr, E.; Fritz, U. & Obst, F. J. (1998)." Die Unterarten von Cuora galbinifrons Bourret, 1939". Zoologische Abhandlungen aus dem staatlichen Museum für Tierkunde in Dresden. 50: 77–97.