The Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle (''Chitra vandijki''), also known commonly as the Myanmar narrow-headed softshell turtle and Van Dijk's chitra, 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 ...

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 tu ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Trionychidae The Trionychidae are a taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera, commonly known as softshell turtles. The family was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can a ...

. The species is

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 elsew ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''vandijki'', is in honor of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

Peter Paul van Dijk Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Description

''C. vandijki'' is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, with a straight

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

length of at least .

Geographic range and habitat

''C. vandijki'' is found in

Myanmar 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 C. Wells, Joh ...

, specifically the Irrawaddy and

Chindwin , , image = Homalin aerial.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Chindwin at Homalin. The smaller, meandering Uyu River can be seen joining the Chindwin. , map = Irrawaddyrivermap.jpg , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption ...

river drainages, and northwestern

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. www.reptile-database.org. It is possible that it lives in the Sittaung River as well.

Ecology and behavior

Barely anything is known about the ecology of ''C. vandijki'' in the wild, other than that it is fully aquatic.

Conservation

The conservation status of ''C. vandijki'' has been evaluated as Critically Endangered by the

IUCN 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 natu ...

, and populations are believed to be declining due to

overharvesting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

for

southern Chinese South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not ...

food markets. It is believed that establishing a protected area around parts of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers would help this species, but it has not been done yet. People have also struggled to successfully keep ''C. vandijki'' in captivity. On July 23, 2018, members of the TSA's and WCS's turtle conservation program in Myanmar excavated the

nests A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

of female ''C.vandijki'' on the banks of the Chindwin River in order to translocate them to a protected

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...

in Linpha Village. The program also incubated eggs from the critically endangered

Burmese roofed turtle The Burmese roofed turtle (''Batagur trivittata'') is one of six turtle species in the genus ''Batagur'' of the family Geoemydidae. It is a freshwater turtle endemic to Myanmar and was thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 2002. Less than i ...

(''Batagur trivittata''). 67 individual Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtles from the program hatched on September 30.

References

Bibliography *McCord, William P.; Pritchard, Peter C. H. (2003). "A Review of the Softshell Turtles of the Genus ''Chitra'', with the Description of New Taxa from Myanmar and Indonesia (Java)". ''Hamadryad'' 27 (1): 11–56. (''Chitra vandijki'', new species, pp. 39–41). * Chitra (genus) Reptiles described in 2003 {{Turtle-stub