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Testudines: Geoemydidae - Asian River Turtles, Etc. |
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| This family contains 25 genera and about 53 species that are mostly aquatic or semi-aquatic, but there is at least one species that is completely terrestrial. Most species occur in Eurasia, ranging from southern Europe to Japan and southward into the Sunda Shelf Islands. One genus (Rhinoclemmys) occurs in Central America and northern South America as far south as northern Ecuador. They use mostly freshwater habitats ranging from mountain streams to large rivers and lakes, and some species use estuaries. Some are known to deposit their eggs along side sea turtles on beaches. Clutch sizes tend to be small 1-10 eggs, but larger species may lay as many as 30 eggs per clutch. Incubation can be relatively long, 3-5 months. Most species are herbivorous, but at least a few are carnivorous. Recent molecular work suggests that the sister group to the species included here are the tortoises, that Rhinoclemmys may be more closely related to the true tortoises, and that all of the species included here may form a clade within the Testudinidae. Thus Geoemydidae as defined here includes the Batagurinae, the Geoemydinae, and Rhinoclemmys. Some authors have considered the Batagurinae and Geoemydinae separate families while others have included them with the Emydidae. | |
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Malayan Snail Eating Turtles, Malayemys subtrijuga (Schlegel and Muller, 1844). Photographed in Uttaradit Province, Thailand. These turtles were found dead in a gill net, and were being grilled by the fishermen (top photo). This is a young turtle from Kabinburi Lake in southeastern Thailand (middle photo). The bottom photo is a captive animal foraging for snails on the bottom of its tank. |
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| All text and photographs copyright © John C. Murphy. All rights reserved worldwide. The content of this site is made available for purposes of researching images offered for license by John C. Murphy. No image is to be copied, duplicated, modified or redistributed in whole or part without the prior written permission of JCM Natural History Photography. Email: jcm@jcmnaturalhistory.com | |