Keeled box turtle | |
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C. m. mouhotii | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Superfamily: | Testudinoidea |
Family: | Geoemydidae |
Subfamily: | Geoemydinae |
Genus: | Cuora |
Species: | C. mouhotii |
Binomial name | |
Cuora mouhotii Gray, 1862 |
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Synonyms | |
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The keeled box turtle (Cuora mouhotii syn. Pyxidea mouhotii ) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae.
C. mouhotii is native to Asia, where it occurs in China, India, Laos, Burma, Vietnam,Thailand, and Bhutan.
Other common names for C. mouhotii include keel-backed terrapin, jagged-shelled turtle, and Mouhot's turtle.
The specific name, mouhotii, is in honor of Alexandre Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist and explorer.
C. mouhotii is sometimes treated as the sole species of the monotypic genus Pyxidea.Phylogenetic analysis using has provided evidence that the species is part of the "Cuora group", a monophyletic group of Asian box turtles, and the name Pyxidea should probably be synonymized with Cuora, making the keeled box turtle part of that genus. Other phylogenetic studies of Cuora support this conclusion. In addition, its morphology is not distinct enough from that of Cuora species to keep it separate, and it is known to hybridize with Cuora galbinifrons.
There are two subspecies, C. m. mouhotii and C. m. obsti.
The Southern Vietnamese population of Cuora mouhotii lives alongside Cuora picturata. Since Cuora mouhotii is known to hybridize with the closest living relatives of Cuora picturata (Cuora galbinifrons and Cuora bourreti) there is a possibility of hybridization in the wild between these two populations.