Pelodiscus Explained

Pelodiscus is a genus of turtles in the family Trionychidae, the softshells. Based on genetic and morphological analysis there are seven valid species.^[1] They are native to Eastern Asia, ranging from the Amur region, south through China and Korea, as far south as Vietnam.^[2] Populations in Japan are thought to likely originate from historic human introductions.

Phylogenetic studies have recovered a high diversity of Pelodiscus genotypes in China, some of which may correspond to distinct species. However, the millennia-old practice of farming Pelodiscus for consumption, especially in large-scale turtle farms since the late 20th century, is thought to threaten these lineages due to hybridization with farmed individuals.^[3]

Species

• Pelodiscus axenaria — Hunan softshell turtle
• Pelodiscus huangshanensis — Huangshan softshell turtle, horse-hoof softshell turtle^[4]
• Pelodiscus maackii — Amur softshell turtle, northern Chinese softshell turtle
• Pelodiscus parviformis — lesser Chinese softshell turtle
• Pelodiscus shipian — Chinese stone slab softshell turtle^[5]
• Pelodiscus sinensis — Chinese softshell turtle
• Pelodiscus variegatus — spotted softshell turtle^[2]

Nota bene

In the above list, a binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Pelodiscus.

Further reading

• Leopold Fitzinger . Fitzinger . L. . 1835 . Entwurf einer systematischen Anordnung der Schildkröten nach den Grundsätzen der natürlichen Methode . Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte . 1 . 105–128. (Pelodiscus, new genus, p. 120. (in German and Latin).
• Web site: Turtles of the World 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution and Conservation Status . 2010-12-14 . 2010-12-15 . Rhodin . Anders G.J. . van Dijk . Peter Paul . Iverson . John B. . Shaffer . H. Bradley . Roger . Bour . https://web.archive.org/web/20110717125632/http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Accounts/crm_5_000_checklist_v3_2010.pdf . 2011-07-17 . dead .

Notes and References

1. Book: Rhodin, Anders G.J. . Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). . 2021-11-15 . Chelonian Research Foundation and Turtle Conservancy . 978-0-9910368-3-7 . Chelonian Research Monographs.
2. Farkas . B. . Ziegler . T. . Pham . C.T. . Ong . A.V. . Fritz . U. . 2019 . A new species of Pelodiscus from northeastern Indochina (Testudines, Trionychidae) . ZooKeys . 824 . 71–86 . 10.3897/zookeys.824.31376 . 6382751 . 30799973 . free.
3. Gong . Shiping . Vamberger . Melita . Auer . Markus . Praschag . Peter . Fritz . Uwe . 2018-05-04 . Millennium-old farm breeding of Chinese softshell turtles (Pelodiscus spp.) results in massive erosion of biodiversity . The Science of Nature . en . 105 . 5 . 34 . 10.1007/s00114-018-1558-9 . 1432-1904.
4. Gong . Yan-An . Peng . Li-Fang . Huang . Song . Lin . Yan-Feng . Huang . Ru-Yi . Xu . Yu-Hao . Yang . Dian-Cheng . Nie . Liu-Wang . 2021-10-28 . A new species of the Genus Pelodiscus Fitzinger, 1835 (Testudines: Trionychidae) from Huangshan, Anhui, China . Zootaxa . en . 5060 . 1 . 137–145 . 10.11646/zootaxa.5060.1.7 . 1175-5334.
5. Gong . Yan-An . Peng . Li-Fang . Huang . Song . Lin . Yan-Feng . Huang . Ru-Yi . Xu . Yu-Hao . Yang . Dian-Cheng . Nie . Liu-Wang . 2021-10-28 . A new species of the Genus Pelodiscus Fitzinger, 1835 (Testudines: Trionychidae) from Huangshan, Anhui, China . Zootaxa . en . 5060 . 1 . 137–145 . 10.11646/zootaxa.5060.1.7 . 1175-5334.