Hinged turtles

Hinged turtles
	Amboina hinged turtle ( Cuora amboinensis )
Systematics
without rank:	Sauropsida
Order :	Turtles (Testudinata)
Subordination :	Halsberger tortoises (Cryptodira)
Family :	Old World pond turtles (Geoemydidae)
Subfamily :	Geoemydinae
Genre :	Hinged turtles
Scientific name
	Cuora
	Gray , 1856

The genus of the hinged turtles ( Cuora ) belongs to the family of the Old World pond turtles (Geoemydidae).

description

The representatives of the genus Cuora are small to medium-sized turtles whose back armor can reach a length between 11 and 35 cm.

The eponymous hinge runs between the hypoplastron and hyoplastron across the belly armor and enables the hinge turtles to fold the belly armor upwards and backwards in order to completely close the armor. This feature occurs in the Old World pond turtle family, however, also in the genera Cyclemys and Notochelys and has evidently developed twice within the Geoemydidae, independently of one another.

Typical features of the species, however, are the regular and hexagonal neuralia of the back armor, the rear side edges of which are comparatively short and a weakly pronounced or completely absent notch in the area of the anal shields of the ventral armor.

Reproduction

Hinged tortoises reach sexual maturity between the ages of six and eight. The female can lay up to ten eggs from which the young hatch after 70–140 days. Typically, most Cuora species lay small clutches with usually two, sometimes one or three eggs, while other species lay four to seven, rarely up to ten eggs in one clutch. The eggs are very large in relation to their size. During the breeding period, the females lay one to three clutches, depending on the species.

Systematics

So far, 12 species of hinged turtles are known:

Amboina hinged turtle ( Cuora amboinensis (Daudin, 1802) )

Golden-headed hinged turtle ( Cuora aurocapitata Luo & Zong, 1988 )

Central Vietnamese hinged turtle ( Cuora bourreti Obst & Reimann, 1994 )

Vietnamese three- lined hinged turtle ( Cuora cyclornata Blanck, Mccord & Le, 2006 ) (also considered a synonym of Cuora trifasciata )

Yellow- necked tortoise ( Cuora flavomarginata (Gray, 1863) )
Hind Indian hinged turtle ( Cuora galbinifrons Bourret, 1939 )
McCord's hinged turtle ( Cuora mccordi Ernst, 1988 )
Three- keeled hinged turtle ( Cuora mouhotii (Gray, 1862) )
Pan's hinged turtle ( Cuora pani Song, 1984 )
South Vietnamese hinged turtle ( Cuora picturata Lehr, Fritz & Obst, 1998 )
Chinese three-lined hinge turtle ( Cuora trifasciata (Bell, 1825) ) ( synonym : Cuora cyclornata )
Yunnan hinged turtle ( Cuora yunnanensis (Boulenger, 1906) )
Zhou's hinged turtle ( Cuora zhoui Zhao, Zhou & Ye, 1990 )

Hybrids:

The sawn hinge turtle ( Cuora × serrata Iverson & McCord, 1992 ) is a hybrid of Cuora mouhotii and Cuora galbinifrons or Cuora bourreti. Hybrids between C. mouhotii and C. galbinifrons are also known from the wild in Hainan .
Iverson's brook tortoise ( "Mauremys" × iversoni Pritchard & McCord, 1991) (hybrid of Cuora trifasciata & Mauremys mutica )
Philippens striped turtle ( "Ocadia" × philippeni McCord & Iverson, 1992) (hybrid of Mauremys sinensis & Cuora trifasciata )

Hainan peacock pond turtle ( "Sacalia" × pseudocellata McCord & Iverson, 1992) (hybrid of Cuora trifasciata & Sacalia quadriocellata )

Web links

Commons : Snapback Turtles ( Cuora ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Cuora in The Reptile Database

Individual evidence

^ R. Tiedemann, ARR Schneider, K. Havenstein, T. Blanck, E. Meier, M. Raffel, H. Zwartepoorte & M. Plath: New microsatellite markers allow high-resolution taxon delimitation in critically endangered Asian box turtles, genus Cuora . In: Salamandra , Volume 50, Number 3, 2014, pp. 139–146, ( digitized ).
↑ ^a ^b W. Naksri, H. Tong, K. Lauprasert, V. & J. Suteethorn Claude: A new species of Cuora (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Miocene of Thailand and its evolutionary significance. In: Geological Magazine , Volume 150, Number 5, 2013, pp. 908-922, ( digitized ).
^ U. Fritz, A. Petzold & M. Auer: Osteology in the Cuora galbinifrons complex suggests conspecifity of C. bourreti and C. galbinifrons, with notes on shell osteology and phalangeal formulas within the Geoemydidae. In: Amphibia-Reptilia , Volume 27, Number 2, 2006, pp. 195-205, ( digitized ).
^ RC Garbin, E. Ascarrunz & WG Joyce: Polymorphic characters in the reconstruction of the phylogeny of geoemydid turtles. In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , Volume 184, Number 3, 2018, pp. 896-918, ( digitized ).
^ WP McCord & JB Iverson: A new Box Turtle of the Genus Cuora (Testudines: Emydidae) with Taxonomic Notes and a Key to the Species. In: Herpetologica , Volume 47, Number 4, 1991, pp. 407-420, ( digitized version ).
^ Turtle Taxonomy Working Group: van Dijk, PP, Iverson, JB, Rhodin, AGJ, Shaffer, HB, Bour, R .: Turtles of the World, 7th Edition: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution with Maps, and Conservation Status . In: Rhodin, AGJ, Pritchard, PCH, van Dijk, PP, Saumure, RA, Buhlmann, KA, Iverson, JB, and Mittermeier, RA (eds.): Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN / SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (= Chelonian Research Monographs ). tape 5 , no. 7 , 2014, p. 329–479 , doi : 10.3854 / crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014 ( PDF ).

[Tiedemann_et_al.,_2014-1] R. Tiedemann, ARR Schneider, K. Havenstein, T. Blanck, E. Meier, M. Raffel, H. Zwartepoorte & M. Plath: New microsatellite markers allow high-resolution taxon delimitation in critically endangered Asian box turtles, genus Cuora . In: Salamandra , Volume 50, Number 3, 2014, pp. 139–146, ( digitized ).

[Naksri_et_al.,_2013-2] W. Naksri, H. Tong, K. Lauprasert, V. & J. Suteethorn Claude: A new species of Cuora (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Miocene of Thailand and its evolutionary significance. In: Geological Magazine , Volume 150, Number 5, 2013, pp. 908-922, ( digitized ).

[Fritz_et_al.,_2006-3] U. Fritz, A. Petzold & M. Auer: Osteology in the Cuora galbinifrons complex suggests conspecifity of C. bourreti and C. galbinifrons, with notes on shell osteology and phalangeal formulas within the Geoemydidae. In: Amphibia-Reptilia , Volume 27, Number 2, 2006, pp. 195-205, ( digitized ).

[Garbin_et_al.,_2018-4] RC Garbin, E. Ascarrunz & WG Joyce: Polymorphic characters in the reconstruction of the phylogeny of geoemydid turtles. In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , Volume 184, Number 3, 2018, pp. 896-918, ( digitized ).

[McCord_&_Iverson,_1991-5] WP McCord & JB Iverson: A new Box Turtle of the Genus Cuora (Testudines: Emydidae) with Taxonomic Notes and a Key to the Species. In: Herpetologica , Volume 47, Number 4, 1991, pp. 407-420, ( digitized version ).

[van_Dijk_et_al.,_2014-6] Turtle Taxonomy Working Group: van Dijk, PP, Iverson, JB, Rhodin, AGJ, Shaffer, HB, Bour, R .: Turtles of the World, 7th Edition: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution with Maps, and Conservation Status . In: Rhodin, AGJ, Pritchard, PCH, van Dijk, PP, Saumure, RA, Buhlmann, KA, Iverson, JB, and Mittermeier, RA (eds.): Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN / SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (= Chelonian Research Monographs ). tape 5 , no. 7 , 2014, p. 329–479 , doi : 10.3854 / crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014 ( PDF ).