Southern Vietnamese box turtle

Southern Vietnamese box turtle
	Southern Vietnamese box turtle; Cuora (galbinifrons) picturata
Conservation status
	; Critically Endangered (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Geoemydidae
Subfamily:	Geoemydinae
Genus:	Cuora
Species:	C. picturata
Binomial name
	Cuora galbinifrons picturata; Lehr, Fritz & Obst, 1998
Synonyms
	Cistoclemmys picturata Cuora galbinifrons picturata

File:Picturata2.jpg

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. This species was initially described as a subspecies of Cuora galbinifrons, but was shown to be genetically distinct.^[1] This is the same for Cuora galbinifrons bourreti, which is much closer related to Cuora galbinifrons, though, in osteology, genetics and morphology than is Cuora picturata to either one. Thus, this variety probably truly deserved 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.

File:Picturata.jpg

References

^ Stuart, B.L., Parham, J.F., 2004. Molecular phylogeny of the critically endangered Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 31: 164-177.

Lehr, E., Fritz, U., Obst, F.J., 1998. Die Unterarten von Cuora galbinifrons Bourret, 1939. Zool. Abh. Mus. Tierk. Dresden, 50: 77-97.

[1] Stuart, B.L., Parham, J.F., 2004. Molecular phylogeny of the critically endangered Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 31: 164-177.

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