Asian box turtle

Cuora species are characterized by a low- (e.g. Cuora pani) to high- (e.g. Cuora picturata) domed shell, which usually has three keels on the carapace. They are reddish, yellowish, brown, grey, and/or black in color. Some species have bright yellow, black, orange, or white stripes down the length of their keels. Their body color is highly variable and typically very bright. Most species show stripes of variable color down either side of their head that usually meet at the nose.

Asian box turtles are the most heavily trafficked turtles in the world. They are captured and sold as food to China and to the United States as pets. Nancy Karraker, a University of Rhode Island associate professor, has said "Trafficking in turtles is a major issue in Southeast Asia, and it's important that we understand the key ecological roles that species like this box turtle play before it's too late".{{cite web |title=URI researcher: World's most heavily trafficked turtle plays vital role in Indonesia environment, economy |url=https://today.uri.edu/news/uri-researcher-worlds-most-heavily-trafficked-turtle-plays-vital-role-in-indonesia-environment-economy/ |website=The University of Rhode Island}}

Different conservation organizations are taking action to prevent or slow down the extinction of these species, but in the past, most of the efforts failed due to lack of biological research regarding the history or genetic diversity of these species.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225325242|title=Conservation phylogenetics of the Asian box turtles (Geoemydidae, Cuora): mitochondrial introgression, numts, and inferences from multiple nuclear loci|doi=10.1007/s10592-006-9210-1|access-date=2019-04-11|year=2007|last1=Spinks|first1=Phillip Q.|last2=Shaffer|first2=H. Bradley|journal=Conservation Genetics|volume=8|issue=3|pages=641–657|bibcode=2007ConG....8..641S |s2cid=1739485}}

Asian box turtles are terrestrial, semiaquatic, or mainly aquatic. They typically spend much of their time on the edge of shallow swamps, streams, or ponds that are dense with vegetation. Most are omnivorous, but carnivorous diets do occur.

File:Cuora species head collage.jpg amboinensis (Sulawesi), Cuora amboinensis kamaroma (Thailand), Cuora amboinensis ssp. (unknown), Cuora amboinensis ssp. (Philippines); Cuora trifasciata (Guangdong, China), Cuora aurocapitata (Anhui, China), Cuora pani pani (Shaanxi, China), Cuora yunnanensis (Yunnan, China); Cuora cyclornata cyclornata (Annam, central Vietnam), Cuora cyclornata meieri (north Vietnam), Cuora mccordi (Guangxi, China), Cuora zhoui (unknown); Cuora flavomarginata sinensis (Sichuan, China), Cuora flavomarginata evelynae (Ryukyu Islands, Japan), Cuora flavomarginata flavomarginata (Taiwan), Cuora picturata (southern Annam, south Vietnam);

Cuora galbinifrons galbinifrons (north Vietnam), Cuora galbinifrons galbinifrons (Hainan, China); Cuora bourreti (Annam, central Vietnam), Cuora bourreti (Laos); Cuora cyclornata cyclornata × Cuora amboinensis kamaroma hybrid, Cuora cyclornata × Pyxidea mouhotii, Cuora trifasciata × Pyxidea mouhotii, Cuora galbinifrons × Pyxidea mouhotii = "Cuora serrata"]]

Listed alphabetically by binomial name, the species are:[http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Cuora&exact%5B0%5D=genus&submit=Search Cuora. The Reptile Database]

• Amboina box turtle or Southeast Asian box turtle, C. amboinensis (four subspecies)
• Wallacean box turtle, C. a. amboinensis
• West Indonesian box turtle, C. a. couro
• Malayan box turtle or domed Malayan box turtle, C. a. kamaroma
• Burmese box turtle, C. a. lineata
• Yellow-headed box turtle or golden-headed box turtle, Cuora aurocapitata or C. (pani) aurocapitata{{#tag:ref|Placed into subspecies status by Artner{{cite journal |author=H. Artner |year=2004 |title=Haltung und Nachzucht von Pans Scharnierschildkröte Cuora pani pani Song, 1984 und der Goldkopf-Scharnierschildkröte Cuora pani aurocapitata Luo & Zong, 1988 |journal=Emys |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=4–21}} and Blanck & Tang.{{cite journal |author1=T. Blanck |author2=M. Tang |name-list-style=amp |year=2005 |title=Ein neuer Fundort von Cuora pani Song, 1984 mit Diskussion über den taxonomischen Status von Cuora pani und Cuora aurocapitata |journal=Sacalia |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=16–37}}|group=Note}}
• Bourret's box turtle, C. bourreti
• †Cuora chiangmuanensis{{cite journal|title=A new species of Cuora (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Miocene of Thailand and its evolutionary significance|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/new-species-of-cuora-testudines-geoemydidae-from-the-miocene-of-thailand-and-its-evolutionary-significance/811525912EE6F09424376A30DD7DE14B|year=2013|doi=10.1017/S0016756812001082|last1=Naksri|first1=Wilailuck|last2=Tong|first2=Haiyan|last3=Lauprasert|first3=Komsorn|last4=Suteethorn|first4=Varavudh|last5=Claude|first5=Julien|journal=Geological Magazine|volume=150|issue=5|pages=908–922|bibcode=2013GeoM..150..908N|s2cid=85781762|url-access=subscription}} (Late Miocene of Thailand)
• Vietnamese three-striped box turtle or green rice turtle, Cuora cyclornata (three subspecies)
• Chinese box turtle, yellow-margined box turtle, or golden-headed turtle, C. flavomarginata (two subspecies)
• Indochinese box turtle, Vietnamese box turtle or flowerback box turtle, C. galbinifrons
• McCord's box turtle, C. mccordi
• †Cuora miyatai{{Cite web|title=Revision of the systematics of the fossil turtles from Japan.|year=2007|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267982527}} (Middle Pleistocene of Japan)
• Keeled box turtle, C. mouhotii (two subspecies)
• Pan's box turtle, C. pani = "C. chriskarannarum"
• Southern Vietnamese box turtle, C. picturata
• †Cuora pitheca{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} (Late Miocene of China)
• Philippine box turtle, C. philippensis{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
• Golden coin turtle or Chinese three-striped box turtle, C. trifasciata
• †Cuora tungia{{cite web|title=A revision of Testudo tungia Yeh, 1963 from the Lower Pleistocene Gigantopithecus cave, Liucheng, Guangxi Province, China|url=http://www.thaiscience.info/journals/Article/JSMU/10938484.pdf|year=2013}} (Lower Pleistocene of China)
• Yunnan box turtle, C. yunnanensis - rediscovered in 2004, verified in 2007
• Zhou's box turtle, C. zhoui = "C. pallidicephala"

Cuora serrata, originally described as C. galbinifrons serrata by Iverson & Mccord

{{cite journal |author1=J. B. Iverson |author2=W. P. McCord |name-list-style=amp |year=1992 |title=A new subspecies of Cuora galbinifrons (Testudines: Batagurinae) from Hainan Island, China |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=105 |pages=433–439}} and later considered a distinct species,{{cite journal |author1=F. J. Obst |author2=U. Fritz |name-list-style=amp |year=1997 |title=Zum taxonomischen Status von Cuora galbinifrons serrata Iverson & McCord, 1992 und Pyxidea mouhotii (Gray, 1862) |journal=Zoologische Abhandlungen |publisher=Museum für Tierkunde Dresden |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=261–279}} is a hybrid of the keeled box turtle and taxa of the Indochinese box turtle complex as shown by the genetic studies of Parham et al.{{cite journal |author1=James Ford Parham |author2=W. Brian Simison |author3=Kenneth H. Kozak |author4=Chris R. Feldman |author5=Haitao Shi |year=2001 |title=New Chinese turtles: endangered or invalid? A reassessment of two species using mitochondrial DNA, allozyme electrophoresis and known-locality specimens |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=357–367 |doi=10.1017/S1367943001001421|bibcode=2001AnCon...4..357P |s2cid=86757143 }} {{cite journal |title=Erratum |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=86 |doi=10.1017/S1367943002001117|year=2002 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2002AnCon...5...86. }} and Stuart & Parham (2004). A single specimen of C. serrata has been found in the wild,{{cite journal |author1=H. Shi |author2=J. F. Parham |author3=W. B. Simison |author4=J. Wang |author5=S. Gong |author6=B. Fu |year=2005 |title=A report on the hybridization between two species of threatened Asian box turtles (Testudines: Cuora) in the wild on Hainan Island (China) with comments on the origin of C. serrata-like turtles |journal=Amphibia-Reptilia |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=377–381 |doi=10.1163/156853805774408487|doi-access=free }} lending credence to the possibility that other specimens arose through natural hybridization or even from wild populations. No Chinese turtle farm is known to produce C. serrata-like specimens.Zhou et al. (2008){{citation needed|date=July 2011}} The occurrence of wild hybrids is often regarded as "evolution in progress", a terminology and point of view that is not always accepted. It has yet to be confirmed whether all C. serrata from the wild originated by direct hybridization of C. mouhotii and C. galbinifrons, or also by "hybridisation" of C. serrata × C. serrata.

Unnamed hybrids of several other Cuora taxa are also known,{{#tag:ref|See Vetter & Van Dijk (2006).{{citation needed|date=July 2011}}|group=Note}} as are intergeneric hybrids such as Mauremys iversoni,{{cite journal |author1=Peter C. H. Pritchard |author2=William P. McCord |name-list-style=amp |year=1991 |title=A new emydid turtle from China |journal=Herpetologica |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=138–147 |jstor=3892730}} a hybrid between Cuora trifasciata and Mauremys mutica, which is intentionally produced in Chinese turtle farms.

Wild-caught C. amboinensis specimens were frequently available in the exotic animal trade, but are getting rarer now; other species are rare to commercially extinct.

• Box turtle

{{Commons category|Cuora}}

{{Reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|32em}}

• Buskirk, J. R., et al. (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20131024113246/http://wolfweb.unr.edu/~ophis/Feldman_Lab/Publications_files/Buskirk%2605-SAL.pdf On the hybridisation between two distantly related Asian turtles (Testudines: Sacalia × Mauremys).] Salamandra 41, 21–26.

{{Geoemydidae}}

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Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray

Category:Turtles of Asia