Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2020-07-31
Page range: 394–400
Abstract views: 230
PDF downloaded: 5

First description of neonate Batagur trivittata (Testudines: Geoemydidae)

Wildlife Conservation Society - Myanmar Program, No. 12, Nanrattaw St., Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Wildlife Conservation Society - Myanmar Program, No. 12, Nanrattaw St., Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Wildlife Conservation Society - Myanmar Program, No. 12, Nanrattaw St., Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Turtle Survival Alliance - Myanmar Program, No. 12, Nanrattaw St., Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Turtle Survival Alliance - Turtle Survival Center, 1030 Jenkins Road, Suite D, Charleston, South Carolina 29407, U.S.A.
Global Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 129, Austin, Texas 78767, and Turtle Conservancy, P.O. Box 1289, Ojai, California, U.S.A.
Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center & Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University, P.O. Box 596, Georgetown, South Carolina 29442, U.S.A.
Testudines Geoemydidae Reptilia

Abstract

The Burmese Roofed Turtle (Batagur trivittata Duméril & Bibron, 1835) is a large (straight-line carapace length [CL] to 620 mm; Platt et al., 2019), aquatic, herbivorous turtle endemic to the major river systems of Myanmar (Smith 1931; TTWG 2017). Although historically widespread and apparently abundant, long-term population declines resulted from chronic egg collecting, subsistence harvesting of adults, and loss of critical nesting habitat (Platt et al. 2017a). By the late 1990s B. trivittata was considered a candidate for Extinct status (Bhupathy et al. 2000) until a living specimen purchased in a Chinese wildlife market came into the possession of an American turtle collector in the early 2000s (Platt et al. 2005; W.P. McCord, pers. comm.). Shortly thereafter, field surveys “rediscovered” two remnant populations in the Dokhtawady and upper Chindwin Rivers (Platt et al. 2005; Kuchling et al. 2006). Intense ex- and in-situ recovery efforts were launched shortly thereafter and continue today (Kuchling & Tint Lwin 2004; Çilingir et al. 2017).

References

  1. Anderson, J. (1879) Reptilia: Chelonia. In: Anatomical and Zoological Researches: Comprising an account of the zoological results of the two expeditions to western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875. Vol. 2. Bernard Quaritch, London, pp. 705–794.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.55401

    Bhupathy, S., Buhlmann, K.A., Chan, B., Chen, T., Choudhury, B.C., Das, I., Dijk, P.P. van, Hanfee, F., Hendrie, D.B., Iskandar, D.T., Kan, R., Khan, S.M.M.H., Lau, M., Ota, H., Palasuwan, T., Platt, S.G., Rashid, S.M.A., Rhodin, A.G.J., Sharma, D.S.K., Shepherd, C.R., Haitao, S., Stuart, B.L., Timmins, R.J. & Yasukawa, Y. (2000) Recommended changes to 1996 IUCN Red List status of Asian turtle species. In: Dijk, P.P. van, Stuart, B.L. & Rhodin, A.G.J. (Eds.), Chelonian Research Monographs 2. Asian Turtle Trade: Proceedings of a Workshop on Conservation and Trade of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises in Asia. Chelonian Research Foundation, Lunenburg, Massachusetts, pp. 156–164.

    Çilingir, F.G., Rheindt, F.E., Garg, K.M., Platt, K., Platt, S.G. & Bickford, D.P. (2017) Conservation genomics of the endangered Burmese Roofed Turtle. Conservation Biology, 31 (6), 1469–1476.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12921

    Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1835) Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète du reptiles. Volume II. Chelonians. Roret, Paris, 680 pp.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.45973

    Guntoro, J. (2017) TSA Indonesia produces Painted Terrapin hatchlings and new local conservationists. Turtle Survival, 2017, 32–33.

    Inbar, M. & Lev-Yadun, S. (2005) Conspicuous and aposematic spines in the animal kingdom. Naturwissenschaften, 92 (1), 170–172.

    https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0608-2

    Iverson, J.B. & Lewis, E.L. (2018) How to measure a turtle. Herpetological Review, 49 (3), 453–460.

    Kuchling, G. & Tint Lwin (2004) Das Arterhaltungsprojekt für die Dreistreifen-Dachschildkröte (Kachuga trivittata) im Zoo von Mandalay. Marginata, 1 (1), 44–50.

    Kuchling, G., Ko, W.K., Min, S.A., Lwein, T., Myo, K.M., Khaing, T.T., Mar, W.M. & Win, N.N. (2006) Two remnant populations of the roofed turtle Kachuga trivittata in the upper Ayeyarwady River system, Myanmar. Oryx, 40 (2), 176–182.

    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605306000391

    Minh, L., McCord, W.P. & Iverson, J.B. (2007) On the paraphyly of the genus Kachuga (Testudinidae: Geoemydidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45, 398–404.

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.002

    Moll, E.O. (1986) Survey of the freshwater turtles of India. Part I: The genus Kachuga. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 83 (3), 538–552.

    Moll, E.O., Platt, S.G., Chan, E.H., Horne, B.D., Platt, K., Praschag, P., Chen, P.N. & van Dijk, P.P. (2015) Batagur affinis (Cantor 1847) — Southern River Terrapin, Tuntong. Chelonian Research Monograph, 5, 90.1–90.17.

    https://doi.org/10.3854/crm.5.090.affinis.v1.2015

    Platt, S.G., Measures, E.A., Rohr, D.M., Platt, K. & Rainwater, T.R. (2017a) Batagur trivittata (Burmese Roofed Turtle). Nesting site and substrate. Herpetological Review, 48 (2), 420–422.

    Platt, S.G., Lwin, T., Htet, A.L., Platt, K., van Dijk, P.P. & Rainwater, T.R. (2016) Nilssonia formosa (Burmese Peacock Softshell Turtle). Morphometrics, coloration, and photograph of hatchling. Herpetological Review, 47 (1), 125–126.

    Platt, S.G., Lwin, T., Win, M.M., Platt, K. & Rainwater, T.R. (2017b) Batagur trivittata (Burmese Roofed Turtle). Description and phenology of sexual dichromatism. Herpetological Review, 48 (3), 616–618.

    Platt, S.G., Lwin, T., Win, M.M., Platt, K., Reh, B., Haislip, N.A. & Rainwater, T.R. (2019) Batagur trivittata (Burmese Roofed Turtle). Sexual size dimorphism. Herpetological Review, 50 (3), 553–555.

    Platt, S.G., Ko, W.K., Khaing, L.L., Myo, K.M., Lwin, T., Swe, T., Kalyar & Rainwater, T.R. (2005) Noteworthy records and exploitation of chelonians from the Ayeyarwady, Chindwin, and Dokhtawady rivers, Myanmar. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 4 (4), 942–948.

    Praschag, P., Holloway, R., Georges, A., Päckert, M., Hundsdörfer, A.K. & Fritz, U. (2009) A new subspecies of Batagur affinis (Cantor, 1847), one of the world’s most critically endangered chelonians (Testudines: Geoemydidae). Zootaxa, 2233 (1), 57–68.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2233.1.3

    Praschag, P., Hundsdörfer, A.K. & Fritz, U. (2007) Phylogeny and taxonomy of endangered South and South-east Asian freshwater turtles elucidated by mtDNA sequence variation (Testudines: Geoemydidae: Batagur, Callagur, Hardella, Kachuga, Pangshura). Zoologica Scripta, 36 (5), 429–442.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2007.00293.x

    Smith, M.A. (1931) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Volume 1. Loricata and Testudines. Taylor & Francis, London, 185 pp.

    Stanford, C.B., Rhodin, A.G.J., van Dijk, P.P., Horne, B.D., Blanck, T., Goode, E.V., Hudson, R., Mittermeier, R.A., Currylow, A., Eisemberg, C., Frankel, M., Georges, A., Gibbons, P.M., Juvik, J.O., Kuchling, G., Luiselli, L. Haitao, S., Singh, S. & Walde, A. (2018) Turtles in Trouble: The World’s 25+ Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles—2018. Turtle Conservation Coalition, Ojai, California, 79 pp.

    Theobald, W. (1868) Catalogue of reptiles of British Birma [sic], embracing the provinces of Pegu, Martaban, and Tenasserin; with descriptions of new or little known species. Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 1868, 4–67.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1868.tb02007.x

    TTWG [Turtle Taxonomy Working Group: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B. & van Dijk, P.P.] (2017) Turtles of the World: annotated checklist and atlas of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. 8th Edition. In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H. & Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.), Chelonian Research Monographs 7. Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Foundation, Lunenburg, Massachusetts, pp. 1–292.