Pelodiscus

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = 8 pazdziernika 2005 gliwice 062.jpg

| image_caption = Pelodiscus sinensis,
Chinese softshell turtle

| status = CITES_A2

| status_system = CITES

| status_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}

| taxon = Pelodiscus

| authority = Fitzinger, 1835{{Harnvb|Rhodin|van Dijk|Iverson|Shaffer|Roger|2010|pp=000.127-8}}

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

}}

Pelodiscus is a genus of turtles in the family Trionychidae, the softshells. Based on genetic and morphological analysis there are seven valid species.{{Cite book |last=Rhodin |first=Anders G.J. |author-link=Anders Gunnar Johannes Rhodin |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021 |title=Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). |date=2021-11-15 |publisher=Chelonian Research Foundation and Turtle Conservancy |isbn=978-0-9910368-3-7 |series=Chelonian Research Monographs}} They are native to Eastern Asia, ranging from the Amur region, south through China and Korea, as far south as Vietnam.{{cite journal |last1=Farkas |first1=B. |author1-link=species:Balázs Farkas |last2=Ziegler |first2=T. |author2-link=species:Thomas Ziegler |last3=Pham |first3=C.T. |author3-link=species:Cuong The Pham |last4=Ong |first4=A.V. |author4-link=species:An Vinh Ong |last5=Fritz |first5=U. |author5-link=Uwe Fritz |year=2019 |title=A new species of Pelodiscus from northeastern Indochina (Testudines, Trionychidae) |journal=ZooKeys |issue=824 |pages=71–86 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.824.31376 |pmc=6382751 |pmid=30799973 |doi-access=free}} Populations in Japan are thought to likely originate from historic human introductions.

Phylogenetic studies have recovered a high diversity of Pelodiscus genotypes in China, some of which may correspond to distinct species. However, the millennia-old practice of farming Pelodiscus for consumption, especially in large-scale turtle farms since the late 20th century, is thought to threaten these lineages due to hybridization with farmed individuals.{{Cite journal |last=Gong |first=Shiping |author-link=species:Shi-Ping Gong |last2=Vamberger |first2=Melita |author2-link=species:Melita Vamberger |last3=Auer |first3=Markus |author3-link=species:Markus Auer |last4=Praschag |first4=Peter |author4-link=species:Peter Prascag |last5=Fritz |first5=Uwe |date=2018-05-04 |title=Millennium-old farm breeding of Chinese softshell turtles (Pelodiscus spp.) results in massive erosion of biodiversity |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-018-1558-9 |journal=The Science of Nature |language=en |volume=105 |issue=5 |pages=34 |doi=10.1007/s00114-018-1558-9 |issn=1432-1904|url-access=subscription }}

Species

Pelodiscus axenaria {{small|(Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991)}} — Hunan softshell turtle
Pelodiscus huangshanensis {{small|Y. Gong, Peng, S. Huang, Lin, R. Huang, Xu, Yang & Nie, 2021}} — Huangshan softshell turtle, horse-hoof softshell turtle{{Cite journal |last=Gong |first=Yan-An |author-link=species:Yan-An Gong |last2=Peng |first2=Li-Fang |author2-link=species:Li-Fang Peng |last3=Huang |first3=Song |author3-link=species:Song Huang |last4=Lin |first4=Yan-Feng |last5=Huang |first5=Ru-Yi |author5-link=species:Ru-Yi Huang |last6=Xu |first6=Yu-Hao |author6-link=species:Yu=Hao Xu |last7=Yang |first7=Dian-Cheng |author7-link=species:Dian-Cheng Yang |last8=Nie |first8=Liu-Wang |date=2021-10-28 |title=A new species of the Genus Pelodiscus Fitzinger, 1835 (Testudines: Trionychidae) from Huangshan, Anhui, China |url=https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5060.1.7 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=5060 |issue=1 |pages=137–145 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5060.1.7 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription }}
Pelodiscus maackii {{small|(Brandt, 1857)}} — Amur softshell turtle, northern Chinese softshell turtle
Pelodiscus parviformis {{small|Tang, 1997}} — lesser Chinese softshell turtle
Pelodiscus shipian {{small|S. Gong, Fritz, Vamberger, Gao & Farkas, 2022}} — Chinese stone slab softshell turtle{{Cite journal |last=Gong |first=Shiping |last2=Fritz |first2=Uwe |last3=Vamberger |first3=Melita |last4=Gao |first4=Yangchun |last5=Farkas |first5=Balázs |date=2022 |title=Disentangling the Pelodiscus axenaria complex, with the description of a new Chinese species and neotype designation for P. axenaria (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=5125 |issue=2 |pages=131–143 |issn=1175-5334}}
Pelodiscus sinensis {{small|(Wiegmann, 1835)}} — Chinese softshell turtle
Pelodiscus variegatus {{small|Farkas, Ziegler, Pham, Ong & Fritz, 2019}} — spotted softshell turtle

Nota bene: In the above list, a binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Pelodiscus.

Pelodiscus

Species

References

Further reading