| Chinese pond turtle | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Cryptodira |
| Superfamily: | Testudinoidea |
| Family: | Geoemydidae |
| Genus: | Mauremys[1] |
| Species: | M. reevesii |
| Binomial name | |
| Mauremys reevesii[1] (Gray, 1831)[1] |
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| Synonyms | |
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Chinemys reevesii |
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The Chinese pond turtle(Mauremys reevesii),[1] Reeves' turtle or Chinese three-keeled pond turtle is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae (formerly called Bataguridae). It is found in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.[1][2] This specific turtle is semi-aquatic so it loves to bask in the sun on rocks or logs and can often be found leaving water to do so. They can usually be found in marshes, relatively shallow ponds, streams and canals with muddy or sandy bottoms.
The Chinese pond turtle is threatened by overhunting (its plastron is used in traditional Chinese medicine)[3][4] and habitat destruction in the wild. The IUCN considers C. reevesii an endangered species.[2] This species, fortunately, breeds well in captivity, and is at risk the most in China. In many other places, however, the Chinese pond turtle is at little to no risk at all.
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This species is notorious for its ability to produce hybrids with other Geoemydidae, even species that are only distantly related. The supposed new species "Mauremys" pritchardi was based on a hybrid of unknown origin between a male of the present species and a female yellow pond turtle (Mauremys mutica). Furthermore, it has hybridized with the Chinese stripe-necked turtle (Ocadia sinensis), female Malayan box turtles (Cuora amboinensis), a male Four-eyed turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata), and the Japanese pond turtle (Mauremys japonica) in captivity.[5]
Any individuals that are available as pets therefore need to be kept separate from other members of the family.
M. reevesii is one of the species raised on China's turtle farms. According to a 1998 survey, 548 farms raised this turtle species in four provinces in China. The statistical data from different provinces were in different formats, however: two provinces reported 20,650 turtles living on 26 farms, with 5,000 animals reproduced annually; the other two provinces reported the total weight of their turtles, namely some 260 tons of these animals on 522 farms. Over the 5-year period, 1990–1995, thirteen traditional Chinese medicine factories consumed 430 tons of C. reevesii plastrons.[6]
Based on a more recent (2002) survey of 684 Chinese turtle farms (less than half of all 1,499 turtle farms that were registered at the time), researchers found that 2.8 million of turtles of this species (reported there as Chinemys reevesii) lived on these farms, with some 566,000 specimens sold by farmers every year. The total weight of the annual product was 320 tons, with the estimated value of over 6 million US dollars. (Which makes the market value of a Chinese Pond Turtle equal to around $12 - about twice as much that of the most common farmed species, Pelodiscus sinensis.) Taking into account the registered farms that did not respond to the survey, as well as the unregistered producers, the total amounts must be considerably higher.[7]
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