The Southeast Asian softshell turtle (''Amyda ornata'') is a species of

softshell turtle Trionychidae is a family of turtles, commonly known as softshell turtles or simply softshells. The family was described by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to li ...

in the family

Trionychidae Trionychidae is a family of turtles, commonly known as softshell turtles or simply softshells. The family was described by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to li ...

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

Asiatic softshell turtle The Asiatic softshell turtle or black-rayed softshell turtle (''Amyda cartilaginea'') is a species of softshell turtle in the Trionychidae family. Despite its name, it is not the only softshell turtle in Asia (most trionychines are Asian). Ta ...

(''A. cartilaginea''), which is now thought to be restricted to the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

and the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

. A 2014 phylogenetic study found both to be distinct species from one another. The

Reptile Database The Reptile Database is a scientific database that collects taxonomic information on all living reptile species (i.e. no fossil species such as dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared ...

and

Turtle Taxonomy Working Group The Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (TTWG) is an informal working group of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG). It is composed of a number of leading turtle taxonomists, with varying participation by individual partici ...

also consider both to be distinct species. There are two subspecies: * ''A. o. ornata'' (Gray, 1861) ''–'' Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia * ''A. o. phayrei'' (Theobald, 1868) – India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand An undescribed subspecies is also known from Bangladesh, though the TTWG classifies it within ''A. o. phayrei''.

Distribution

The species is found throughout much of

Mainland Southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, and ranges from northwestern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

south to southern

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and east to

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Description

Compared to ''A. cartilaginea'', ''A. ornata'' is of an "arrow headed form" and has a "lighter base color and a more diffuse yellow spotting, which is 'usually restricted to the cheeks, there are no ocelli but black dots may be present on the carapace, the nuchal tubercles are always weakly developed and the animals always show three (or rarely two) converging black lines on the head'". Along with ''Amyda ornata'' subspecies (unnamed) from Bangladesh and ''Amyda ornata phayrei'', ''Amyda ornata ornatas "morphology matches the turtles studied by Kuchling et al. 2004". In addition, ''Amyda ornata'' subspecies (unnamed) has "a rather uniform pale color and very large tubercles in the nuchal and back region of the carapace".

Status

The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

presently groups ''A. ornata'' with ''A. cartilaginea'', and has found them to be Vulnerable due to overexploitation for consumption. A provisional assessment of ''A. ornata'' as a distinct species has also found it to qualify for a Vulnerable status.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22943989 Amyda Turtles of Asia Reptiles described in 1861 Taxa named by John Edward Gray