Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Southern Vietnamese box turtle

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Order
  
Testudines

Superfamily
  
Testudinoidea

Scientific name
  
Cuora picturata

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Chordata

Suborder
  
Cryptodira

Family
  
Geoemydidae

Higher classification
  
Asian box turtle

Southern Vietnamese box turtle httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Asian box turtle, Turtle, Bourret's box turtle, Indochinese box turtle, Reptile

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. 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.

References

Southern Vietnamese box turtle Wikipedia