Chinese Pond Turtle (Mauremys reevesii)
Classification: Introduced Species - While the Chinese Pond Turtle has been seen and identified in the state of California, there are no records of any breeding populations. Sightings of this species are most likely of released or escaped pets that were imported for the pet trade.
Description: Three strong keels on the carapace, which is usually brown. The legs are webbed and the tail is quite long. Coloration: body usually grey with yellowish spots and the head has a pattern of stripes. Some Reeve's turtles entire body and soft parts might be dark brown or completely black. Reaches sexual maturity in China at 4 to five inches; grows as large as 14 inches in Japan.
Habitat: Mauremys reevesii is semiaquatic, and basks in the sun on rocks or logs and can often be found leaving water to do so. They can usually be found in marshes, relatively shallow ponds, streams, and canals with muddy or sandy bottoms.
Range: Has been indentified in the Los Angeles area of southern Calidfornia. Mauremys reevesii is native to China and Korea, and is thought to have been introduced to Japan and Taiwan in historic times; it was previously thought to be native to both these regions. The species is thought to have been introduced to Japan from the Korean Peninsula near the end of the 18th century. Introduced populations of M. reevesii may serve as a threat to the native turtles of these regions due to its propensity for hybridization.
Found in these States:
CA
Diet: They prey on worms, small fish, and insects when they are available. Their diet also include green leafy vegetables, mole cricket, mormon cricket and like to mess with water lettuce, duckweed, plants and water hyacinth. Females construct nesting burrows in soft mud or sand substrates and deposit their eggs. These will incubate for between 50 and 90 days before hatching.
Reproduction: In the Northern Hemisphere, the breeding season for Reeves’ turtles starts in the spring and lasts until mid-summer. In most years, two clutches of between two and six eggs will be laid. But in good years, the number of clutches can increase to three or four.
Status: The Chinese three-keeled pond turtle (M. reevesii) is threatened by competition with released pet red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), overhunting (its plastron is used in traditional Chinese medicine), capturing for the pet trade, and wild habitat destruction. The IUCN considers M. reevesii an endangered species. This species, fortunately, breeds well in captivity.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Testudines - Turtles & Tortoises
»» Family: Geoemydidae - Leaf Turtles
»» Genus: Mauremys
»» Species: Mauremys reevesii - Chinese Pond Turtle
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chinese Pond Turtle", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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