Big head turtle
| Big head turtle | ||||||||||||
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Big-headed turtle ( Platysternon megacephalum ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Platysternidae | ||||||||||||
| JE Gray , 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Platysternon | ||||||||||||
| JE Gray, 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Platysternon megacephalum | ||||||||||||
| JE Gray, 1831 |
The great-headed turtle ( Platysternon megacephalum ) is the only species in the family of the great-headed turtle (Platysternidae).
features
Big-headed tortoises reach a body length of about 20 centimeters, have a relatively large head, which they cannot completely retract into the shell like other turtles , and a long tail, which they cannot pull completely into the shell either. For their protection they have large horn scales in these places. Since they cannot retract their head, large-headed turtles do not behave passively towards enemies, but attack and try to drive away the enemy with bites.
Distribution and way of life
The distribution area of the nocturnal big head turtle is in southern China , Burma , Thailand and Vietnam . There it lives on and in cool mountain streams and feeds on snails , crabs and fish . It cracks open the hard shells of prey with its strong jaws. Since she is not a good swimmer, she runs along the bottom of the water or climbs trees and bushes. The clutch, which consists of two eggs, is placed in a hollow. The low number of eggs can be explained by the fact that the big-headed turtle has few enemies. After laying the eggs, the female smooths the earth over the nest. The young animals have to dig themselves up after hatching.
Subspecies
- P. m. megacephalum
- P. m. peguense
- P. m. shiui
literature
- Ronald Orenstein, George R. Zug, Jeanne A. Mortimer: Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins: Survivors in Armor. 2001, ISBN 1-55209-605-X . (English)
- Manfred Rogner: Tortoises - biology, keeping, reproduction. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5440-1 .
Web links
- David T. Kirkpatrick: The Big-headed Turtle, Platysternon megacephalum. ( Memento of March 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Information about large-headed turtles. (English)
- Platysternon megacephalum in The Reptile Database
- Platysternon megacephalum inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Asian Turtle Trade Working Group, 2000. Retrieved December 14, 2013.