The Vietnamese three-striped box turtle or green rice turtle (''Cuora cyclornata'') is a species of the Southeast Asian genus '' Cuora'' (family

Geoemydidae The Geoemydidae (formerly known as Bataguridae) are one of the largest and most diverse families in the order Testudines (turtles), with about 70 species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two in ...

). It is distributed from the extreme southern part of the Chinese

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

province southwards to central

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and central

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. This species reaches up to 30 cm straight

carapace A carapace is a 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 tortoises, the unde ...

length and is thus the largest ''Cuora'' species. Due to demand of

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

, this species is nearly

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as only consisting of living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range ...

, but is readily bred on Chinese turtle farms. Extremely high prices are paid for this species in China. It can be distinguished from ''

Cuora trifasciata __NOTOC__ The golden coin turtle (''Cuora trifasciata''), also known Common name, commonly as the Chinese three-banded box turtle and the Chinese three-striped box turtle, is a species of turtle in the Family (biology), family Geoemydidae. The spe ...

'' by its larger size and generally more oval or rounder shell, which is usually also flatter, a white, pink, or orange chin, and head coloration with an orange-brownish-olive dorsal head pattern and less black pigment.

Subspecies

Recognized subspecies: Blanck, T., Protiva, T., Zhou, T., Li, Y., Crow, P., and Tiedemann, R. (2017). New subspecies of ''Cuora cyclornata'', ''Cuora trifasciata'' and ''Cuora aurocapitata''. ''Sichuan Journal of Zoology''. (36): 368–385 *Central Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (''C. c. cyclornata''): Occurring in Central

and adjacent

, this subspecies can easily be distinguished from ''

'' and ''C. c. meieri'' by its orange chin, its round carapace appearance, the '' Cuora mccordi''/''

Boletus ''Boletus'' is a genus of mushroom-producing fungi, comprising over 100 species. The genus ''Boletus'' was originally broadly defined and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, essentially containing all fungi with hymenial pores instead of gills. ...

''-like plastral pattern (i.e. a generally large black blotch extending from the anal scutes to the pectorals, in ''C. trifasciata'' and ''C. c. meieri'' extending to the gulars) with a thin black vertical black stripe along the pectoral-humeral suture only and two separated, black, longitudinal bars on the gular scutes. This subspecies can reach a carapace length of up to 25 cm; males are smaller than females (as usual in ''Cuora'' species). *Northern Vietnamese or Meiers three-striped box turtle (''C. c. meieri''): Occurring in extreme southwestern

Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and adjacent northern

, this subspecies can be differentiated from ''C. c. cyclornata'' and ''C. trifasciata'' by its oval shell shape, a white to pinkish chin, rounded humeral-pectoral sutures, and a filled ''Boletus'' plastral pattern. This subspecies can reach a carapace length of up to 30 cm; males are smaller than females. *Annamite Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (''C. c. annamitica''): Occurring in Thanh Hoa Province, Nghe An Province,

Ha Tinh Ha may refer to: Agencies and organizations * Health authority, a former type of administrative organisation of the NHS in England and Wales * Hells Angels Motorcycle Club * Highways Agency (renamed ''Highways England'', now ''National Highways'' ...

Province and northern Quang Binh Province,

, this subspecies can be differentiated from ''C. c. cyclornata'' by its less intense chin coloration, and mainly black plastral front lobe, and can be differentiated from ''C. c. meieri'' by chin coloration, shell shape and plastral structure. This subspecies can reach a carapace length exceeding 30 cm.

Gallery

File:cyclor.JPG, Female ''C. c. cyclornata'' File:Cyclornata2.jpg, Plastron ''C. c. cyclornata'' File:Cuora cyclornata meieri Female.jpg, Female ''C. c. meieri'' File:Cuora cyclornata meieri ventral.jpg, Plastron ''C. c. meieri'' File:PXL 20220308 113822826.jpg, Juvenile ''C. c. annamitica'' File:PXL 20220404 125141864 (1).jpg, Plastron ''C. c. annamitica''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4795475 Cuora Reptiles of Vietnam