Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle

The Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle or Myanmar narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra vandijki) is a species of turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia.

Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle
Not evaluated (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Trionychidae
Genus: Chitra
Species:
C. vandijki
Binomial name
Chitra vandijki
McCord & Pritchard, 2003[1]
Synonyms[2]

Etymology

The specific name, vandijki, is in honor of Dutch herpetologist Peter Paul van Dijk.[3]

Description

C. vandijki is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, with a carapace size of at least 1 meter.[4][5]

Distribution and habitat

C. vandijki is found in Myanmar, specifically the Irrawaddy and Chindwin river drainages[4], and northwestern Thailand.[6] It is possible that they live in the Sittaung River as well.[5]

Ecology and behavior

Barely anything is known about C. vandijki's ecology in the wild, other than that it is fully aquatic.[5]

Conservation

C. vandijki's conservation status has not yet been evaluated by the IUCN, but populations are believed to be declining due to overharvesting for southern Chinese food markets. It is believed that establishing a protected area around parts of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers would help this species, but it has not been done yet. People have also struggled to successfully keep C. vandijki in captivity.[5]

On July 23, 2018, members of the TSA's and WCS's turtle conservation program in Myanmar excavated the nests of female C.vandijki on the banks of the Chindwin River in order to translocate them to a protected hatchery in Linpha Village. The program also incubated eggs from the critically endangered Burmese roofed turtle. 67 individual Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtles from the program hatched on September 30.

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References
  1. Rhodin 2010, p. 000.206
  2. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. At the request of the CITES Nomenclature Committee and the German Agency for Nature Conservation and funded by the Museum für Tierkunde Dresden and the German Federal Ministry of Environment. 57 (2): 149–368. ISSN 1864-5755. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Chitra vandijki, p. 272).
  4. "Burmese Narrow-headed Softshell Turtles Hatch in Myanmar!". Turtle Survival Alliance. 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  5. "Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group". Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  6. "Chitra vandijki ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Bibliography


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