List of reptiles of China

Zhou's box turtle is a critically endangered species that is endemic to China.

China has around 403 different species of reptiles that can be found in many environments including deserts, grasslands, rivers, and forests.^[1] It is the country with the seventh largest amount of different reptile species.^[2]

Turtles and tortoises

Softshell turtles

• Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii)
• Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei)

Box turtles

• Chinese box turtle (Cuora flavomarginata)
• Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)
• Keeled box turtle (Cuora mouhotii)
• Pan's box turtle (Cuora pani)
• Golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata)
• Yunnan box turtle (Cuora yunnanensis)
• Zhou's box turtle (Cuora zhoui)

Sea turtles

• Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
• Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)
• Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)
• Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

Tortoises

• Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata)
• Impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa)
• Russian tortoise (Agrionemys horsfieldii)

A Russian tortoise, a common choice as a house pet.

Snakes

• Dice snake (Natrix tessellata)
• Grass snake (Natrix natrix)
• Chinese cornsnake (Elaphe bimaculata)

Pitvipers

• Sharp-nosed pit viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus)
• Mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii)
• Mountain pitviper (Ovophis monticola)
• Jerdon's pit viper (Protobothrops jerdonii)
• Bamboo pit viper (Trimeresurus gramineus)
• Mangshan pitviper (Trimeresurus mangshanensis)
• Motuo bamboo pitviper (Trimeresurus medoensis)
• Stejneger's pit viper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri)

A bamboo pit viper (Trimeresurus gramineus) perched on a branch in a Cuiheng zoo.

Crocodilians

• Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)

A pair of Chinese alligators in the Shanghai Zoo.

Lizards

• Chinese crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus)
• Asian grass lizard (Takydromus sexlineatus)

Skinks

• Longtail mabuya (Eutropis longicaudata)
• East Indian brown mabuya (Eutropis multifasciata)
• Christmas Island grass-skink (Lygosoma bowringii)
• Short-limbed supple skink (Lygosoma quadrupes)
• Ladakh ground skink (Scincella ladacensis)
• Reeves' smooth skink (Scincella reevesii)
• Sikkim ground skink (Scincella sikimmensis)
• Sphenomorphus courcyanum
• Indian forest skink (Sphenomorphus indicus)
• Spotted forest skink (Sphenomorphus maculatus)
• Berdmore's water skink (Tropidophorus berdmorei)

An Indian forest skink in the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, in northern Hong Kong.

Agamas

• Chinese water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus)
• Green fan-throated lizard (Ptyctolaemus gularis)
• Small forest lizard (Oriocalotes paulus)
• Reeves' butterfly lizard (Leiolepis reevesii)
• Theobald's toad-headed agama (Phrynocephalus theobaldi)
• Variegated toadhead agama (Phrynocephalus versicolor)
• Kashmir rock agama (Laudakia tuberculata)
• Badakhshana rock agama (Laudakia badakhshana)
• Himalayan agama (Laudakia himalayana)
• Armored pricklenape (Acanthosaura armata)
• Brown pricklenape (Acanthosaura lepidogaster)
• Emma Gray's forest lizard (Calotes emma)
• Indo-Chinese forest lizard (Calotes jerdoni)
• Indo-Chinese forest lizard (Calotes mystaceus)
• Oriental garden lizard (Calotes versicolor)
• Kakhyen Hills spiny lizard (Pseudocalotes kakhienensis)
• Burmese false bloodsucker (Pseudocalotes microlepis)
• Japalura andersoniana
• Kumaon mountain lizard (Japalura kumaonensis)
• Japalura tree dragon (Japalura splendida)
• Three-keeled mountain lizard (Japalura tricarinata)

A male Japalura tree dragon.

Geckos

• Yangihissar gecko (Cyrtopodion elongatum)
• Gekko wenxianensis
• Indopacific tree gecko (Hemiphyllodactylus typus)
• Mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris)

Gliding lizards

• Blanford's flying lizard (Draco blanfordii)
• Spotted flying dragon (Draco maculatus)

References