Cyclemys oldhami (Oldham’s Leaf Turtle)
The common name of this Freshwater-Turtle in English is commonly called Southeast Asian Leaf Turtle, Stream Terrapin, Oldham’s Leaf Turtle, Dark-Throated Leaf Turtle, Stripeneck Leaf Turtle and Thai name called เต่าห้วยคอลาย (Dtao Huay Kor Laai), เต่าใบไม้พม่า (Dtao Bai Mai Burma), เต่าห้วยท้องดำ (Dtao Huay Tong Dam).
เต่าห้วยคอลาย : Cyclemys oldhami Gray, 1863
Cyclemys oldhami 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 Gray, J.E. Observations on the box tortoises, with the descriptions of three new Asiatic species. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863: 173-179. (1863).
Included with Cyclemys dentata until very recently. Previously considered to contain just a single, variable species, Cyclemys remains subject to ongoing taxonomic investigations which rearrange the taxonomy and nomenclature on an ongoing basis. Key references: Fritz et al. 1996, 1997; Iverson and McCord 1997; Guicking et al. 2002.
Geographic Range
While recent taxonomic changes make it challenging to define the range of Cyclemys oldhamii precisely, it is understood to range from eastern Myanmar through much of Thailand and Lao PDR, central and southern Viet Nam, and northern Cambodia; part of its range might be in broad sympatry with C. atripons and C. pulchristriata. It occurs below 1,000 m asl.
Previous records from Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Borneo are now attributed to C. enigmatica (Fritz et al. 2008). Records from southern Yunnan (China) likely were based on trade specimens.
Habitat and Ecology
Cyclemys oldhami inhabits mainly streams and adjoining stream valley areas in subtropical monsoon hill forest areas, up to an altitude of 1,000 m but usually lower (Das 1991, van Dijk 1998). Cyclemys oldhamii feed on a variety of fruits, small animal prey, and scavenge when an opportunity presents itself (van Dijk 1998).
Turtles of the Cyclemys oldhamii group can attain up to 26 cm carapace length (Das 1991). Age at maturity has been reported as 10–12 years, and generation time as three times that, at 30 years (Nutphand 1979). Females can produce up to 5 clutches of 2–4 eggs annually.
Type locality: Mergui and Siam; restricted to Mergui by SMITH 1931.
Pet trade of Cyclemys oldhamii is insignificant compared to exploitation for human consumption. Cyclemys oldhamii has been common in the Asian consumption trade of turtles (at local, national and international levels) since the 1990s.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis. Adult: Dark coloured, resembling the other dark- bellied species but carapace rectangular and crown of the head light brown with distinctive small dark spots.
Head and neck stripes absent in adults from the western part of the range, present in adults from the eastern part of the range. Palate and tongue in alcohol grey.
Hatchling : Brownish plastron covered by extensive dark central figure; ocellate pattern at submarginal seams; distinctive head and neck stripes present, throat dark.
For maximum size and comparison with diagnostic characters of other species, see Table 3 in Fritz et al. 2008: 10.
Synonym
- Cyclemys oldhami John Edward Gray (1863)
- Cyclemys oldhami John Edward Gray (1864)
- Cyclemys oldhami Albert Charles Lewis Günther (1864)
- Cyclemys dhor shanensis Nelson Annandale (1918)
- Cyclemys shanensis tcheponensis Nelson Annandale (1918)
- Cylcemys dhor shanensis Nelson Annandale (1918)
- Geoemyda tcheponensis René Léon Bourret (1939)
- Geomyda tcheponensis René Léon Bourret (1939)
- Cyclemys tiannanensis Kou (1989)
- Cyclemys tiannamensis Indraneil Das (1991)
- Geoemyda tcheponensis Uwe Fritz et al. (1999)
- Cyclemys tcheponensis Thomas Ziegler (2002)
- Cyclemys shanensis Daniela Guicking et al. (2002)
- Cyclemys oldhami Edgar Lehr & Rohan Holloway (2003)
- Cyclemys shanensis Maik Schilde (2004)
- Cyclemys shanensis tcheponensis Emil Hans Willi Hennig (2004)
- Cyclemys oldhami tcheponensis Uwe Fritz et al. (2009)
- Cyclemys oldhami Uwe Fritz et al. (2009)
- Cyclemys cf. oldhami Daniel Jastrzębski et al. (2013)