The four-eyed turtle (''Sacalia quadriocellata'') is a reptile of the order

Testudines 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 ...

. Its name refers to two bright yellow or green spots that occur on the back of its head that can look like another pair of eyes.

Geographic range

This species of turtle occurs in southern China and

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

, in the

Annamite Mountains The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately through Laos, Vietnam ...

and northeastern region of Laos, and in the mountains of northern and central

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Hybridization

A male of this

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 ...

has successfully produced hybrids with the

Golden coin turtle __NOTOC__ The golden coin turtle or Chinese three-striped box turtle (''Cuora trifasciata'') is a species of turtle endemic to southern China. Distribution The species is distributed in China, but only on the island of Hainan (it is extirpat ...

in captivity. Given that the "four-eye" pattern is inherited by these hybrids, it seems well possible that the mysterious Chinese false-eyed turtle (''Sacalia pseudocellata'') is actually based on a hybrid specimen.

Description

The four-eyed turtle can grow to a carapace length of . Its carapace typically ranges in color from a yellowish-tan to a deep chocolate-brown, and all turtles have a distinct pattern of lines. The turtle's head is often colorful with yellow or green eyes, yellow stripes, and a pink or red throat. Two (sometimes four) eye-like

ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...

occur on the back of the head, hence the turtle's name.

Ecology

Four-eyed turtles occur in freshwater streams,

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

s, and

ponds A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from t ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

, often

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

ous

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s. As a result of their rugged surroundings, they have adapted to become adept climbers. While their dietary preferences have not been studied in detail, it is known that they do eat a wide variety of animals and plants including

crickets Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

s, trout chow, aquatic plants, greens and

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

s, and certain fruits.

Status and conservation

The species is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. It is also listed in Appendix II of the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

(CITES) meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated. A main factor in the decline of the four-eyed turtle is trade and demand for their shells. Therefore, species recovery programs are needed to ensure the future of the species. There is currently an extensive communication between zoo and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

personnel in Vietnam whose goal is to coordinate recovery programs. The recovery programs will include legal protection for the turtles which will affect turtle trading. Large quantities of turtle shell are used as an ingredient in

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 ...

(TCM). For instance,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

confirmed that 940 tons of hard shelled turtle bone and 200 tons of soft shell turtle bones were imported between 1992 and 1998. The plastron - the belly shell - is used in TCM prescriptions. Some TCM scientists argue that there is no difference between plastron and carapace (back shell) bone. So, if both plastron and carapace bone are utilized, the demand of TCM for freshwater turtles, including four-eyed turtles, could decrease by 50%. Current TCM research also suggests that there is no pharmaceutical difference in the effects of bone from animals produced on farms and animals captured in nature. As a result, farm production of turtle bone for TCM is likely to increase. In addition, TCM research could help find alternatives to turtle bone such as herbs.

Conservation efforts

The Asian Turtle Program has helped publicize turtle conservation all throughout Asia. The ATP, a branch of Indo-Myanmar Conservation, has a regularly updated website with up-to-date news that helps spotlight the status of endangered turtles throughout Asia.

References

* (2001). New Chinese turtles: endangered or invalid? A reassessment of two species using mitochondrial DNA, allozyme electrophoresis and known-locality specimens. ''Animal Conservation'' 4 (4): 357–367
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Erratum: ''Animal Conservation'' 5 (1): 8
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* Siebenrock, Friedrich. (1903). "''Schildkröten des östlichen Hinterindien''". ''Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' ienna112: 333-353. ("''Clemmys bealii'' Gray ''nov. var. quadriocellata''", pp. 336–338).

External links

Cuc Phuong Turtle Conservation CenterASEAN Centre for Biodiversity
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2600292 Sacalia Reptiles described in 1903 Critically endangered fauna of China