Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle

Taxobox
name = Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle
status = CR | status_system = IUCN2.3


image_width = 270px
image_caption = Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Testudines
subordo = Pleurodira
familia = Chelidae
genus = "Chelodina"
species = "C. mccordi"
binomial = "Chelodina mccordi"
binomial_authority = Rhodin, 1994The Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle ("Chelodina mccordi") is an extremely threatened turtle species from Rote Island southwest of Timor between New Guinea and Australia. It belongs to the genus Chelodina (Australian snake-necked turtles) within the family of Side-necked turtles (Chelidae)

Description

The Roti Island Snake-necked turtle was split from the New Guinea Snake-necked Turtle and regarded as distinct species in 1994 after Dr. Anders Rhodin, director of the Chelonian Research Foundation in Lunenburg (Massachusetts), find out that there are differences between the two species. The first snake-necked turtles on Roti Island were discovered in 1891 by George Albert Boulenger. It was named for Dr. William McCord, a vetenary and turtle expert from Hopewell Junction, New York.

The carapace can reach a length between 18 and 24 centimetres. The length of the neck is similar. The color of the carapace is pale grey brown. Occasionally there are also specimens which have a chestnut coloured hue. The plastron is pale buff white. The neck is dark brown on the upperparts with round tubercles. The underparts are beige white. The iris is black surrounded by a white ring. Its habitat are swamps, rice terraces, and small lakes.

Reproduction

A clutch can consist of eight to fourteen eggs and it can give three breeding periods in one year. The size of the eggs is 30 x 20 mm and the weight can reach eight to ten grams. The first hatchlings came after three months, the last after four months. When they hatch they have a size of 28 x 20 mm and they have yellow spots on the plastron which became darker with the time until the plastron became almost black after a few weeks. During the growing up the coloring became paler until they finally reach the color of the adults.

Threats

The Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle belongs to the most wanted turtles in the international pet trade. Even before its scientifically description it was so extremely collected that the legal trade was prohibited in 2001 due to its rarity. The two or three remained populations live in an area of only 70 km² in the central highlands of Rote Island. It is still illegally captured and it is often offered on markets under the label of the New Guinea Snake-necked Turtle which is also legally protected. In 2004 it was listed in Appendix II of CITES.

References

Asian Turtle Trade Working Group 2000. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/4606/summ| Chelodina mccordi] . In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. . Downloaded on 27 July 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered

External links

* [http://www.chelodina.com/6.htm Chelodina mccordi (engl.)]
* [http://www.iucn.org/themes/Ssc/our_work/wildlife_trade/citescop13/pdf/CoP13_Prop_23_Chelodina_mccordi.pdf Inclusion of Roti Snake-necked Turtle Chelodina mccordi in Appendix II. Proponents: Indonesia and United States of America. (engl.)]
* [http://www.traffic.org/news/press-releases/Roti_island.html TRAFFIC - Roti Island Snake-necked Turtles become all but extinct (engl.)]
* [http://www.traffic.org/news/press-releases/TRAFFIC_RotiIslandreport2006.pdf TRAFFIC - The Trade of the Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle Chelodina mccordi (engl.)]