Hardella thurjii

Taxobox | name = Brahminy River Turtle
status = VU| status_system = iucn2.3


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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Testudines
familia = Geoemydidae
genus = "Hardella"
species = "H. thurjii"
binomial = "Hardella thurjii"
binomial_authority = (Gray, 1831)
synonyms =
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The Brahminy River Turtle or Crowned River Turtle ("Hardella thurjii") is a species of turtle found in northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (in the watersheds of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Indus rivers).

Description

Carapace moderately depressed, with an interrupted tubercular keel; margin not serrated; nuchal narrow, broadest posteriorly; first vertebral usually narrower anteriorly than posteriorly, lateral borders usually slightly sinuous; second, third, and fourth vertebrals considerably broader than long in the young, nearly as long as broad in the adult. Plastron large, angulate laterally, truncate anteriorly, angularly notched posteriorly; the width of the bridge exceeds the length of the posterior lobe; the longest median suture is that between the abdominals; suture between the gulars as long as that between the humerals or a little shorter (at least three fourths); inguinal large, axillary smaller. Head moderate; snout short, obtuse; upper jaw notched mesially, serrated; lower jaw very strongly dentated, flat inferiorly, its width at the symphysis a little less than the diameter of the orbit. Limbs with transversely enlarged, band-like scales. Carapace dark brown or black; plastron yellowish, with a large blackish spot occupying the greater part of each shield, or entirely black. Soft parts dark brown; a yellow band across the prefrontal region, extending on each side, through the eye, to above the ear; another from below each eye, passing below the nostrils.Length of shell 18 inches ( females ). Males much smaller. [Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Amphibia.]

Notes

References

* Listed as Vulnerable (VU A1cd+2cd v2.3)
* Das, Indraneil 1984 Record length of the Brahminy River turtle "Hardella thurjii" Hamadryad 9 (3): 18

External links

*
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Hardella_thurjii_thurjii.jpg
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Hardella_thurjii.jpg