Bourret's box turtle

Bourret's box turtle (Cuora bourreti),^[3] also known commonly as the central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle and the Indochinese box turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia.

Bourret's box turtle
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Geoemydidae
Genus:	Cuora
Species:	C. bourreti
Binomial name
Cuora bourreti Obst & Reimann, 1994[3]
Synonyms[4]
Cuora galbinifrons bourreti Obst & Reimann, 1994 Cistoclemmys galbinifrons bourreti — Bour, 2002 Cuora bourreti — B. Stuart & Parham, 2004 Cistoclemmys bourreti — Vetter, 2006

Geographic range

C. bourreti is found in central Vietnam and adjacent Laos.^[1][5]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of C. bourreti is forest, at altitudes of 300–1,800 m (980–5,910 ft).^[1]

Description

C. bourreti may attain a straight-line carapace length of 20 cm (7.9 in). Adult females and adult males are about the same size. Hatchlings have a straight-line carapace length of 4.5–5.0 cm (1.8–2.0 in).^[1]

Taxonomy

Although Stuart and Parham (2004) argued that C. bourreti was quite distinct, possibly enough to justify its elevation to a full species, osteologic studies^[4] have shown that it probably better remains as a subspecies of C. galbinifrons. This is further substantiated by the finding of intergradation zones in north-central Vietnam, where hybrid populations of C. g. galbinifrons and C. g. bourreti are known to exist.^[4]

Etymology

C. bourreti is named in honor of French herpetologist René Léon Bourret.^[6]

In captivity

The Vietnamese press has reported successful breeding of C. bourreti at a turtle farm in Dak Lak, Vietnam by a pharmacist who studied in France.^{[citation needed]}

Two Bourret's box turtles hatched at the National Zoo in the United States on 12 June 2017.^[7]

Gallery

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References

1. McCormack, T.; Stuart, B.L. (2020). "Cuora bourreti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T163447A123815632. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T163447A123815632.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
2. "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
3. Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Bour, Roger (2011-12-31). "Turtles of the world, 2011 update: Annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution and conservation status" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-31.
4. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 149–368. doi:10.3897/vz.57.e30895.
5. Cuora galbinifrons at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 2 June 2020.
6. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cuora galbinifrons bourreti, p. 35).
7. "Critically endangered Bourret's box turtles hatch at the Smithsonian's National Zoo". National Zoo, 21 June 2017.

Further reading

• Fritz U, Petzold A, Auer M (2006). "Osteology in the Cuora galbinifrons complex suggests conspecifity of C. bourreti and C. galbinifrons, with notes on shell osteology and phalangeal formulae within the Geoemydidae". Amphibia- Reptilia 27 (2): 195–205.
• Fritz U, Ziegler T, Herrmann H-W, Lehr E (2002). "Intergradation between subspecies of Cuora galbinifrons Bourret, 1939 and Pyxidea mouhotii (Gray, 1862) in southern North Vietnam". Faunistiche Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden 23 (3): 59–74.
• Obst FJ, Reimann M (1994). "Bemerkenswerte Variabilität bei Cuora galbinifrons Bourret, 1939, mit Beschreibung einer neuen geographischen Unterart: Cuora galbinifrons bourreti subsp. nov." Zoologische Abhandlungen, Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden 48: 125–138. (Cuora galbinifrons bourreti, new subspecies). (in German).
• Stuart BL, Parham JF (2004). "Molecular phylogeny of the critically endangered Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31: 164–177. (Cuora bourreti, new status).

External links

• "Cuora galbinifrons ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 19 July 2008.