McCord's box turtle (''Cuora mccordi'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Geoemydidae The Geoemydidae (formerly known as Bataguridae) are one of the largest and most diverse families in the order Testudines (turtles), with about 70 species. The family includes the Eurasian pond and river turtles and Neotropical wood turtles. Mem ...

. The species is native to China.

Etymology

The specific name, ''mccordi'', is in honor of American veterinarian William Patrick McCord (born 1950).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael 2011. ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Cuora mccordi'', p. 172).

Taxonomy

Originally described by American herpetologist

Carl Henry Ernst Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

in 1988 from a specimen obtained from the Chinese pet trade, ''C. mccordi'' lacked geographic range data for 19 years until Chinese herpetologist Ting Zhou et al. (2007) were able to report it from the wild.

Geographic range

McCord's box turtle is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to central Guangxi province, China.

Conservation status

''C. mccordi'' is one of the most endangered Chinese endemic turtle species, highly sought after for

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

and by turtle hobbyists. Cuora mccordi ventral

Description

Once thought to reach only straight carapace length, specimens of McCord's box turtle of up to straight carapace length are known now.

References

Bibliography

*ERNST CH (1988). "''Cuora mccordi'', a new Chinese box turtle from Guangxi Province". ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 101: 466-470. *FRITZ U, HAVAŠ P (2007)
"Checklist of Chelonians of the World"
''Vertebrate Zoology'' 57 (2): 217. *ZHOU T (2007a). "A survey of captive population dynamics for six endemic Chinese Box Turtle species". ''Sichuan Journal of Zoology, Chengdu'' 26 (2): 448-450. *ZHOU T, LI P-P (2007). "Chelonian species diversity and current status in China". ''Sichuan Journal of Zoology'' 26 (2): 464-467. (in Chinese) *ZHOU T (2007b). "Endemic Chinese box turtles". ''China Nature'' (2): 20-22. (in Chinese) *ZHOU T, BLANCK T, McCORD WP, LI P-P (2008)
"Tracking ''Cuora mccordi'' (Ernst, 1988); the first record of its natural habitat; a re-description; with data on captive populations and its vulnerability"
''Hamadryad'' 32 (1): 46-58. {{Taxonbar, from=Q301454 Cuora Endemic fauna of Guangxi Reptiles of China Reptiles described in 1988 Critically endangered fauna of China