red-crowned roofed turtle
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The red-crowned roofed turtle or Bengal roof turtle (''Batagur kachuga'') is a
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of freshwater
turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
. It was the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
of its former
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Kachuga''. Females can grow to a shell length of and weigh , but males are considerably smaller. The turtles like to bask in the sun on land. In the breeding season, the heads and necks of male turtles exhibit bright red, yellow and blue coloration. The females excavate nests in which they lay clutches of up to thirty eggs. Historically, this turtle was found in central Nepal, northeastern India, Bangladesh and probably Burma, but it has suffered declines in population due to being harvested for meat and shells, drowned in fishing nets, water pollution, hydro-electric schemes and habitat loss. Fewer than four hundred adult females are thought to remain in the wild, with the
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
rating this turtle as being " critically endangered". India has put conservation measures in place, and a captive breeding programme has been initiated.


Description

It can weigh up to and have shells as long as . Males reach only half the length of females. At the end of the rainy season, the heads and necks of male turtles develop a brilliant courtship coloration of red, yellow, white, and blue, with 6 distinctive bright red stripes on top of the head. The carapace of the young is strongly keeled. The
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
s are tubercular posteriorly on the second and third vertebral shields. The posterior margin is strongly crenulated. The marginal serrature disappears in adolescent specimens and the vertebral keel, after being reduced to a series of low knobs, vanishes entirely in the full-grown, the carapace of which is very convex. The
nuchal The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''n ...
shield is small, trapezoidal and broadest posteriorly. The first
vertebral The vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. The vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates ...
is as broad or broader in front as behind. The second vertebral is longer than the third, with which it forms a straight transverse suture. The fourth is longest and forms a broad suture with the third. The second vertebral is broader than long in the young, and as long as broad in the adult. Plastron is angulate laterally in the young. The anterior and posterior lobes are rather narrow and shorter than the width of the bridge, truncate anteriorly and are openly notched posteriorly. The longest median suture is between the abdominals and the shortest is between the gulars, which equals about one half that between the humerals. The suture between gulars and humerals forms an obtuse angle, as does that between humerals and pectorals. The inguinal is large and the
axilla The axilla (also, armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm and the thoracic cage, bounded superior ...
ry is smaller. The head is moderate size with an obtuse and moderately prominent snout. The jaws have denticulated edges with the upper not notched mesially. Alveolar surfaces are very broad, the median ridge of the upper jaw being somewhat nearer the outer than the inner margin.
Choanae The choanae (singular choana), posterior nasal apertures or internal nostrils are two openings found at the back of the nasal passage between the nasal cavity and the throat in tetrapods, including humans and other mammals (as well as crocodilia ...
are behind the line of the posterior borders of the
orbits In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
. The width of the lower jaw at the
symphysis A symphysis (, pl. symphyses) is a fibrocartilaginous fusion between two bones. It is a type of cartilaginous joint, specifically a secondary cartilaginous joint. # A symphysis is an amphiarthrosis, a slightly movable joint. # A growing togethe ...
equals the diameter of the orbit. The limbs have transversely enlarged, band-like
scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...
which are colored brown above and yellowish below. The
nape The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...
has red longitudinal lines.


Geographic range

This reptile was historically widespread in Central
Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
, NE
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, primarily in deep flowing freshwater rivers with terrestrial nest sites in the watershed of the Ganges River and probably NW
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. Type locality: "India"; restricted by M.A. Smith 1931:131, to "N. India." The National Chambal Sanctuary portion of the Chambal River has received moderate protection since 1979 as India's only protected riverine habitat. It is believed to be one of the last viable habitats for this species, though even here, ''B. kachuga'' are rare. Recent annual nesting surveys indicate fewer than 400 adult females remaining in the wild.


Diet

The diet of red-crowned roofed turtles consists entirely of aquatic plants. Das, I. 2002. ''A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of India''. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. 144 pp. . ("Painted Roofed Turtle ''Kachuga kachuga''", p. 127.)


Behavior

They leave the water to thermoregulate by basking in the sun on rocks, logs, and sandbanks.


Reproduction

Adult females lay eggs in March and April. The eggs are long by wide. Clutch size varies from 11 to 30 eggs.


Threats

The large ''Batagur'' turtles are probably the most threatened freshwater turtles in India. Their populations have now been drastically reduced due to
poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...
for their meat and shells, accidental drowning in fishing gear,
water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...
, hydroelectric infrastructure projects, habitat destruction by
sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in conc ...
, and egg
predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
by
jackals Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...
.


Conservation

Since 2004, ''B. kachuga'' has reproduced in captivity at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. A total of 132 eggs were laid through 2009 with an overall viability of 69%. 75 hatchlings were produced from these eggs, with 24 young turtles sent to
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
for release in 2007. Since 2006, the Chambal River Sanctuary Program of Turtle Survival Alliance- India has implemented projects to protect wild nests, collect and hatch wild eggs in hatchery conditions, raise hatchlings to at about 4 years age, conduct survival and migration studies of tagged and released hatchlings and conduct surveys over of river to determine nesting locations, nesting density, nest depredation rates, and anthropogenic pressures on the turtles.


References

* Safi, A., Khan, M. Z., 2014. Distribution and current population of freshwater turtles of District Charsadda of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The Journal of Zoology studies. 1(4): 31–38. http://www.journalofzoology.com * Moll, E.O. 1986. Survey of the freshwater turtles of India. The genus ''Kachuga''. parts J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 83 (3): 538–552. * Gray, J.E. 1831. Illustrations of Indian Zoology: chiefly selected from the collection of Major General Hardwicke. Vol. 1, London (1830–1835). * Gray, J.E. 1862. Notice of two new species of Batagur in the collection of the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1862:264-265. * Gray, J.E. 1863. Notice of two new species of Batagur in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 74–75.


External links

* * http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Kachuga_kachuga.jpg * http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Kachuga_kachuga_female.jpg {{Taxonbar, from=Q306355 Reptiles of India Reptiles described in 1831 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Batagur