Pelomedo turtles
| Pelomedo turtles | ||||||||||||
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Rigid-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelomedusa subrufa ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pelomedusidae | ||||||||||||
| Cope , 1868 |
The Pelomedusidae are a family of freshwater turtles from eastern and southern Africa. The mostly round carapace reaches a length of 12 to 45 centimeters. Pelomedo turtles are unable to retract their head in an S-shaped arc perpendicular to the shell opening. Instead, when they are drawn in, they place their heads laterally under the shell by means of a horizontal S-shaped movement and are therefore part of the turn-necked turtles (Pleurodira).
The family contains only two genera. They differ from their closest relatives by a hinge in the front part of the plastron .
Pelomeduse turtles spend most of their time on the bottom of rivers or shallow lakes, partially buried. Many species spend the dry season buried in the mud. They feed on invertebrates such as insects , mollusks, and worms .
Systematics
The related family Podocnemididae is considered either as a separate family or as a subfamily of the Pelomedo turtles. In the latter case, the African pelomedus turtles become the subfamily Pelomedusinae.
Genera and species
- Genus Starrbrst-Pelomedusen ( Pelomedusa Wagler, 1830 )
- Pelomedusa barbata Petzold, Vargas-Ramirez, Kehlmaier, Vamberger, Branch, Du Preez, Hofmeyr, Meyer, Schleicher, Široký & Fritz, 2014
- Pelomedusa galeata (Schoepff, 1792)
- Pelomedusa hafie (Rüppell, 1835)
- Pelomedusa kobe Petzold et al., 2014
- Pelomedusa neumanni Petzold et al., 2014
- Rigid-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelomedusa olivacea (Schweigger, 1812) )
- Pelomedusa schweinfurthi Petzold et al., 2014
- Pelomedusa somalica Petzold et al., 2014
- Rigid-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelomedusa subrufa (Bonnaterre, 1789) )
- Pelomedusa variabilis Petzold et al., 2014
- Genus Hinged-breast Pelomedusen ( Pelusios Wagler, 1830 )
- White-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelusios adansonii (Schweigger, 1812) )
- Okavango pelomeduse ( Pelusios bechuanicus Fitzsimons, 1932 )
- Turkana pelomeduse ( Pelusios broadleyi Bour, 1986 )
- Keeled folding-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelusios carinatus Laurent, 1956 )
- West African folding-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelusios castaneus (Schweigger, 1812) )
- Yellow-bellied folding-chest pelomeduse ( Pelusios castanoides Hewitt, 1931 )
- Central African folding-breast pelomeduse ( Pelusios chapini Laurent, 1965 )
- Brown folding-breasted pelomeduse ( Pelusios cupulatta Bour & Maran, 2003 )
- Dorsal stripe pelomeduse ( Pelusios gabonensis (Duméril, 1856) )
- Maran's Folding Chest Pelomeduse Pelusios marani Bour, 2000
- Dwarf pelomeduse ( Pelusios nanus Laurent, 1956 )
- Black pelomeduse ( Pelusios niger (Duméril & Bibron, 1835) )
- Black-bellied pelomeduse ( Pelusios rhodesianus Hewitt, 1927 )
- Jagged pelomedusa ( Pelusios sinuatus (Smith, 1838) )
- Dark pelomeduse ( Pelusios subniger (Lacépéde, 1789) )
- Upemba pelomeduse ( Pelusios upembae Broadley, 1981 )
- East African folding-breast pelomeduse ( Pelusios williamsi Laurent, 1965 )
literature
- Fritz Jürgen Obst : Pelomedusinae. In: HG Cogger, RG Zweifel: Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. Academic Press, San Diego 1998, ISBN 0-12-178560-2 , pp. 112-113.
- A. Petzold, M. Vargas-Ramirez, C. Kehlmaier, M. Vamberger, WR Branch, L. Du Preez, MD Hofmeyr, L. Meyer, A. Schleicher, P. Široký, U. Fritz: A revision of African helmeted terrapins (Testudines: Pelomedusidae: Pelomedusa), with descriptions of six new species. Zootaxa 3795 (5), 2014 pp. 523-548, doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3795.5.2 .
Web links
- Pelomedusidae in The Reptile Database
- Animal Diversity Web Family Pelomedusidae