Indochinese box turtle

Description

The Indo-Chinese box turtle ( Cuora galbinifrons ) or Vietnamese turtle or Flowerback box turtle is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae.It is found in China ( Hainan and Guangxi ),in the north and center of Vietnam,in Laos and,possibly,in the northeast of Cambodia.The turtle of northern Vietnam,Cuora galbinifrons galbinifrons,was described by Bourret in 1939,but it took almost 40 years for the first specimens to be imported into Europe and the United States.This subspecies is found in the extreme south of Guangxi,province of China,in the north of Vietnam and,probably,in the north of Laos and in Hainan Island (China).The Hainan population was once considered to represent a different species (Zhao,1975) or a subspecies (Iverson and McCord,1992),Cuora (galbinifrons) hainanensis (Li,1958: Org desc.Cyclemys flavomarginata hainanensis).Li,1958 was unaware of Bourret's description (1939) of C.galbinifrons and therefore believes that in his opinion it is a subspecies of Cuora flavomarginata,the only Cuora of the species known at this time at least with some similarities.According to some,the samples of Hainan do not always have a completely black plastron (always in the continent C.g.Galbinifrons ),but sometimes in the lighter parts.On the other hand,the carapace shows more red pigmentation and brown spots.Genetic and morphological studies nevertheless believe that it is a synonym of C.g.galbinifrons.