McCord's box turtle

McCord's box turtle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Geoemydidae
Subfamily: Geoemydinae
Genus: Cuora
Species: C. mccordi
Binomial name
Cuora mccordi
Ernst, 1988
Synonyms[1]
  • Cuora mccordi
    Ernst, 1988
  • Cuora accordi
    Nöllert, 1992 (ex errore)
  • Cistoclemmys mccordi
    — Vetter, 2006

McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi ) is a species in the southeast Asian genus Cuora (family Geoemydidae).

Adult female
Plastron

Etymology

The specific name, mccordi, is in honor of American veterinarian William Patrick McCord (born 1950).[2]

Taxonomy

Described by Ernst in 1988 from the Chinese pet trade, C. mccordi lacked distribution data for 19 years until Zhou et al. (2007) were able to report it from the wild.

Geographic range

McCord's box turtle is endemic to the Chinese Guangxi province.

Conservation status

C. mccordi is one of the most endangered Chinese endemic turtle species, highly sought after for traditional Chinese medicine and by turtle hobbyists.

Description

Once thought to reach only 14 cm (5.5 in) carapace length, specimens of McCord's box turtle of up to 18 cm (7.1 in) carapace length are known now.

References

  1. Fritz & Havaš, 2007.
  2. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cuora mccordi, p. 172).

Bibliography

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