Chitra indica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Narrow-headed soft-shelled Turtle

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Family:	Trionychidae
Genus:	Chitra
Species:	C. indica

Binomial name

Chitra indica
(Gray, 1831)

Narrow-headed soft-shelled Turtle Chitra indica is a species of turtle found in the major rivers of India and Pakistan.

1 Diagnostic characters
2 Distribution
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Diagnostic characters

Overall color: olive to deep olive-green;
Very complex midline (vertebral) carapacial pattern;
Midline (vertebral) carapacial stripe present;
Complex radiating costal stripes;
Paramedian neck stripes forming a bell-like pattern on anterior carapace absent;
Neck stripes do not form a continuous light rim around carapace;
No distinct pair of neck stripes;
Dark speckling on "light" (head and neck) stripes;
Anterior neck "V" divergence point on neck;
3-4 forelimb lamellae;
No peri-orbital X pattern;
No distinct peri-orbital ocelli;
No distinct naso-orbital triangular "figure";
Few, if any, black dots present on chin pattern.

Type locality: "India, fl. Ganges, Penang"; restricted by Smith (1931:162) to "Fatehgarh, Ganges," India = "India: Ganges; Futtaghur" (Gray 1864: 92)

[edit] Distribution

Ganges, Godavari, Mahanadi, Sutlaj, Indus) Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

[edit] References

Asian Turtle Trade Working Group (2000). Chitra indica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is endangered and the criteria used
Boulenger, G.A. 1889 Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum, London, 311 pp.
Engstrom, Tag N., H. Bradley Shaffer, and William P. McCord. 2002 Phylogenetic Diversity of Endangered and Critically Endangered Southeast Asian Softshell Turtles (TrionychidaChitra). Biological Conservation 104 (2):173-179
Gray, J. E. 1831 A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [Vol. 9]. Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp.
Gray, J. E. 1831 Synopsis Reptilium or short descriptions of the species of reptiles. Part I: Cataphracta, tortoises, crocodiles, and enaliosaurians. Treuttel, Wurz & Co., London, 85 pp.
Gray, J.E. 1844 Catalogue of Tortoises, Crocodilians, and Amphisbaenians in the Collection of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History), London. viii + 80 p.
Gray, J. E. 1864 Revision of the species of Trionychidae found in Asia and Africa, with descriptions of some new species. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864: 76-98
Webb, R.G. 1980 Gray, Hardwicke, Buchanan-Hamilton, and drawings of Indian softshell turtles (Family Trionychidae). Amphibia-Reptilia 1: 61-74.