McCord's box turtle

Mccords Box Turtle
File:Mccordi.jpg
Mccords Box Turtle Cuora mccordi
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. mccordi
Binomial name
Cuora mccordi Ernst, 1988

McCord's Box turtle (Cuora mccordi) is a species of the southeast Asian Genus Cuora (family Geoemydidae).

adult female

Described by Ernst in 1988 from the Chinese pet trade, this turtle lacked distribution data for 19 years until Zhou et al. (2007) were able to report it from the wild. This species is highly endemic to Chinese Guangxi Province. This is one of the most endangered Chinese endemic turtle species, highly sought after by the traditional Chinese medicine and turtle hobbyists. Once thought to reach only 14cm Carapace length, specimens of up to 18 cm are known now.

File:Mccordi2.jpg

Plastron

References

• ERNST, C. H. 1988. Cuora mccordi, a new Chinese box turtle from Guangxi Province. - Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 101: 466-470.
• ZHOU T.. 2007a. A survey of captive population dynamics for six endemic Chinese Box Turtle species. Sichuan Journal of Zoology, Chengdu, 26(2): 448-450.
• ZHOU T.,P-P Li.2007.Chelonian species diversity and current status in China.Sichuan Journal of Zoology.26(2):464-467. (in Chinese)
• ZHOU T.2007b.Endemic Chinese box turtles.China nature.(2)20~22(in Chinese)
• Zhou T., T. Blanck, W. P. McCord + P-P. Li. 2007. Tracking Cuora mccordi (Ernst, 1988); the first record of its natural habitat; a re-description; with data on captive populations and its vulnerability.Hamadryad. in press.