Rafetus

File:The reconstruction of skulls of Rafetus species.png (A-B), R. swinhoei (C-D), R. euphraticus (E-F)]]

Phylogenetic evidence largely suggests that Rafetus is most closely related to the widespread North American genus Apalone. The two genera appear to have diverged during the Late Eocene, likely when the ancestors of Apalone dispersed into North America via Beringia.{{Cite journal |last1=Le |first1=Minh |last2=Duong |first2=Ha T. |last3=Dinh |first3=Long D. |last4=Nguyen |first4=Truong Q. |last5=Pritchard |first5=Peter C. H. |last6=McCormack |first6=Timothy |date=2014-09-01 |title=A phylogeny of softshell turtles (Testudines: Trionychidae) with reference to the taxonomic status of the critically endangered, giant softshell turtle, Rafetus swinhoei |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13127-014-0169-3 |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=279–293 |bibcode=2014ODivE..14..279L |doi=10.1007/s13127-014-0169-3 |issn=1618-1077|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=Robert C. |last2=Spinks |first2=Phillip Q. |last3=Shaffer |first3=H. Bradley |date=2021-02-16 |title=A global phylogeny of turtles reveals a burst of climate-associated diversification on continental margins |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=118 |issue=7 |pages=e2012215118 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11812215T |doi=10.1073/pnas.2012215118 |pmc=7896334 |pmid=33558231 |doi-access=free}}

=== Species ===

According to most taxonomists, the genus Rafetus contains the following two extant species.

• Rafetus euphraticus {{small|(Daudin, 1801)}} – Euphrates softshell turtle; Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Khūzestān Province of Iran. IUCN: Endangered.{{cite iucn |author=Ghaffari, H. |author2=Taskavak, E. |author3=Turkozan, O. |author4=Mobaraki, A. |year=2017 |title=Rafetus euphraticus |volume=2017 |page=e.T19070A1956551 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T19070A1956551.en |access-date=22 June 2025}}
• Rafetus swinhoei {{small|(Gray, 1873)}} – Yangtze giant softshell turtle; Only three known living individuals, one in Suzhou Zoo (China) and two in two lakes in northern Vietnam, Dong Mo lake and Xuan Khanh lake. IUCN: Critically endangered.{{cite iucn |author=Fong, J. |author2=Hoang, H. |author3=Kuchling, G. |author4=Li, P. |author5=McCormack, T. |author6=Rao, D.-Q. |author7=Timmins, R.J. |author8=Wang, L. |year=2021 |title=Rafetus swinhoei |volume=2021 |page=e.T39621A2931537 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T39621A2931537.en |access-date=22 June 2025}}

A possible third species, Rafetus leloii {{small|Hà, 2000}} (synonym R. vietnamensis {{small|Le et al., 2010}}), known commonly as the Hoan Kiem turtle, has been proposed as a species. It is considered a junior synonym of Rafetus swinhoei by most authorities,{{cite journal|author=Farkas B |author2=Webb RG|author2-link=Robert G. Webb |year=2003|title=Rafetus leloii Hà Dinh Dúc, 2000 — an invalid species of softshell turtle from Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam (Reptilia, Testudines, Trionychidae)|journal=Zool. Abhandl.|location=Dresden|volume=53|pages= 107–112}} but some Vietnamese scientists insist the two forms are not identical. The last known individual at Hoan Kiem Lake was found dead on 19 January 2016.{{Cite web|title = 'Cụ' rùa Hồ Gươm đã chết|url = http://www.phapluatso.com/cu-rua-ho-guom-da-chet.html|website = Pháp luật - tin pháp luật đời sống mới nhất 2015|access-date = 2016-01-19|language = en-US|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160121015208/http://www.phapluatso.com/cu-rua-ho-guom-da-chet.html|archive-date = 2016-01-21|url-status = dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/world/asia/vietnam-turtle-hoan-kiem-lake.html|title=Vietnam's Sacred Turtle Dies at an Awkward, Some Say Ominous, Time|first=Mike|last=Ives|date=January 22, 2016|accessdate=January 23, 2016|work=The New York Times}}

An extinct species R. bohemicus {{small|Liebus, 1930}} from the Burdigalian age of the Early Miocene (about 17.5 million years ago) lived in what is today the Czech Republic.{{Cite journal|last1=Chroust |first1=M. |last2=Mazuch |first2=M. |last3=Ivanov |first3=M. |last4=Alba |first4=D. M. |last5=Luján |first5=À. H. |year=2023 |title=Redescription of the soft-shell turtle Rafetus bohemicus (Testudines, Trionychidae) from the Early Miocene of Czechia |journal=PeerJ |volume=11 |at=e15658 |doi=10.7717/peerj.15658 |pmid=37525660 |pmc=10387236 |doi-access=free}}

Cladogram as drawn by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson, and Igor G. Danilov (2009){{Cite journal|author1=Joyce, Walter G.|author2=Revan, Ariel|author3=Lyson, Tyler R.|author4=Danilov, Igor G.|year=2009|title=Two New Plastomenine Softshell Turtles from the Paleocene of Montana and Wyoming|journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History|volume=50|issue=2|pages=307–325|url=http://www.mrfdigs.com/publications/200910_joyce-et-al.pdf|doi=10.3374/014.050.0202|bibcode=2009BPMNH..50..307J |s2cid=85505337}}

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{{Reflist}}

{{Wikispecies|Rafetus}}

{{Commons category|Rafetus}}

• Gray JE (1864). [https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofgen64zool#page/76/mode/2up "Revision of the Species of Trionychidae found in Asia and Africa, with Descriptions of some New Species"]. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864: 76–98. (Rafetus, new genus, p. 81).

{{Trionychidae}}

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Category:Turtle genera

Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot