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
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this 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
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

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

Habitat

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

Description

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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

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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

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

In captivity

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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]

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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

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  • 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).
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