Cyclemys enigmatica (Enigmatic Leaf Turtle)
The common name of this Freshwater Turtle in English is commonly called Enigmatic Leaf Turtle and Thai name called เต่าใบไม้มลายู (Dtao Bai Mai Malayu).
เต่าใบไม้มลายู : Cyclemys enigmatica Fritz, Guicking, Auer, Sommer, Wink & Hundsdörfer, 2008
Cyclemys enigmatica is a species of the Southeast Asian Leaf Turtle Genus (Cyclemys) within the Freshwater Pond Turtle Family (Geoemydidae), Superfamily Testudinoidea, in the Suborder Cryptodira, in the Turtles Order (Testudines), in the Reptile Class (Reptilia), in the Chordate Phylum (Chordata) in the Animal Kingdom (Animalia).
Published in Fritz, U.; D Guicking, M Auer, R. S Sommer, M Wink, A. K Hundsdörfer. Diversity of the Southeast Asian leaf turtle genus Cyclemys: how many leaves on its tree of life? Zoologica Scripta doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00332. (2008).
Included with Cyclemys dentata until very recently; C. enigmatica is a recently-described species of the black-bellied Cyclemys group.
The specific epithet 'enigmatica', Latinized adjective from the Greek noun aínigma (enigma, conundrum or riddle) refers to the long-lasting confusion caused by the distinct morphology of the new species and its introgressed mitochondrial genome.
Geographic Range
Cyclemys enigmatica is a very poorly known species that has been reported from Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Sarawak in Malaysia, and from Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan in Indonesia (Fritz et al. 2008).
Habitat and Ecology
Cyclemys enigmatica generally overlaps in habitat occurrence with C. dentata in Sumatra and Kalimantan. It is a mainly aquatic species inhabiting streams, swamps and wetlands in primary and secondary forest; generally in closed-canopy habitats primarily in lowland areas.
Type locality: @ReptileDB
Diagnosis
Diagnosis. Adult: Dark coloured, with mainly or entirely dark brown to black shell. Carapace ovoid. Femoral mid-seam longer than or equal to anal mid-seam; anal notch wide and obtuse- angled. Young adults with dense black radiating pattern on carapace and plastron; aged adults often with uniform dark brown carapace and black plastron.
Head and neck stripes absent. Crown of the head uniform brown, in life distinctly lighter coloured than temporal region. Palate and tongue in alcohol pure white.
Hatchling: Underside of the shell brownish- yellow, mottled with small darker brown specks; head and neck uniform dark, without stripes. For maximum size and com- parison with diagnostic characters of other species, see Table 3 in FRITZ et al. 2008: 10.
Synonym
- Cyclemys enigmatica Uwe Fritz, Daniela Guicking, Robert S. Sommer, Michael Wink & Anna K. Hundsdörfer (2009)
- Cyclemys enigmatica Tanya Chan-Ard et al. (2015)