Heosemys spinosa (Spiny Turtle)
The common name of this Freshwater-Turtle in English is commonly called Spiny Turtle, Spiny Terrapin, Sunburst Turtle and Thai name called เต่าจักร (Dtao Jak).
เต่าจักร : Heosemys spinosa (Gray, 1831)
Heosemys spinosa is a species of the Pond Turtle Genus (Heosemys) 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. A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [Vol. 9]. Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp. [1830]. (1831).
Geographic Range
The range of Heosemys spinosa occurs in southernmost Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, Peninsular Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra, west and east Kalimantan), Brunei, and east Malaysia (west Sarawak and Sabah). It is also present in Tawi Tawi, Philippines.
Habitat and Ecology
Heosemys spinosa inhabits flooded forests, hilly streams and lowland swamps. Generation length is estimated at 17 years (age of first reproduction = 7, lifespan = 35 years, reproductive period = 22 years, z = 0.35). Three generations is 51 years.
Type locality: Penang [West Malaysia]
The Heosemys spinosa is being used for local and international consumption and local and international pet trade.
Synonym
- Emys spinosae John Edward Gray (1830)
- Emys spinosa John Edward Gray (1831)
- Geoemyda spinosa John Edward Gray (1834)
- Clemmys (Clemmys) spinosa Leopold Fitzinger (1835)
- Emys spinosa André Marie Constant Duméril & Gabriel Bibron (1835)
- Geoemyda spinosa John Edward Gray (1873)
- Heosemys spinosa Leonhard Hess Stejneger (1902)
- Heosemys spinosa Ulrich Manthey & Wolfgang Grossmann (1997)
- Heosemys spinosa Merel J. Cox et al. (1998)
- Heosemys spinosa Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (TTWG) (2014)