McCord's box turtle

McCord's box turtle
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Geoemydidae
Subfamily:	Geoemydinae
Genus:	Cuora
Species:	C. mccordi
Binomial name
Cuora mccordi Ernst, 1988
Synonyms[1]
Cuora mccordi Ernst, 1988 Cuora accordi Nöllert, 1992 (ex errore) Cistoclemmys mccordi — Vetter, 2006

McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi ) is a species in the southeast Asian genus Cuora (family Geoemydidae).

Adult female

Plastron

Etymology

The specific name, mccordi, is in honor of American veterinarian William Patrick McCord (born 1950).^[2]

Taxonomy

Described by Ernst in 1988 from the Chinese pet trade, C. mccordi lacked distribution data for 19 years until Zhou et al. (2007) were able to report it from the wild.

Geographic range

McCord's box turtle is endemic to the Chinese Guangxi province.

Conservation status

C. mccordi is one of the most endangered Chinese endemic turtle species, highly sought after for traditional Chinese medicine and by turtle hobbyists.

Description

Once thought to reach only 14 cm (5.5 in) carapace length, specimens of McCord's box turtle of up to 18 cm (7.1 in) carapace length are known now.

References

Bibliography

• ERNST, C.H. 1988. Cuora mccordi, a new Chinese box turtle from Guangxi Province. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 101: 466-470.
• FRITZ, U., and HAVAŠ, P. 2007. Checklist of Chelonians of the World. Vertebrate Zoology 57 (2): 217.
• ZHOU T. 2007a. A survey of captive population dynamics for six endemic Chinese Box Turtle species. Sichuan Journal of Zoology, Chengdu 26 (2): 448-450.
• ZHOU T., P-P Li. 2007. Chelonian species diversity and current status in China. Sichuan Journal of Zoology 26 (2): 464-467. (in Chinese)
• ZHOU T. 2007b. Endemic Chinese box turtles. China Nature (2): 20-22. (in Chinese)
• Zhou T., T. Blanck, W. P. McCord & P-P. Li. 2008. Tracking Cuora mccordi (Ernst, 1988); the first record of its natural habitat; a re-description; with data on captive populations and its vulnerability. Hamadryad 32 (1): 46-58.

Turtle family Geoemydidae
Genus	Species of the family Geoemydidae
Batagur	Burmese roofed turtle Northern river terrapin Painted terrapin Red-crowned roofed turtle Southern river terrapin Three-striped roofed turtle
Cuora	Amboina box turtle Bourret's box turtle Indochinese box turtle McCord's box turtle Keeled box turtle Pan's box turtle Southern Vietnamese box turtle Chinese three-striped box turtle Yellow-headed box turtle Yellow-margined box turtle Yunnan box turtle Zhou's box turtle
Cyclemys	Asian leaf turtle Assam leaf turtle Eastern black-bridged leaf turtle Enigmatic leaf turtle Myanmar brown leaf turtle Oldham's leaf turtle Western black-bridged leaf turtle
Geoclemys	Black pond turtle
Geoemyda	Black-breasted leaf turtle Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle
Hardella	Brahminy river turtle
Heosemys	Arakan forest turtle Giant Asian pond turtle Spiny turtle Yellow-headed temple turtle
Leucocephalon	Sulawesi forest turtle
Malayemys	Malayan snail-eating turtle Mekong snail-eating turtle
Mauremys	Balkan pond turtle Caspian turtle Chinese pond turtle Chinese stripe-necked turtle Japanese pond turtle Red-necked pond turtle Spanish pond turtle Vietnamese pond turtle Yellow pond turtle
Melanochelys	Indian black turtle Tricarinate hill turtle
Morenia	Burmese eyed turtle Indian eyed turtle
Notochelys	Malayan flat-shelled turtle
Orlitia	Malaysian giant turtle
Pangshura	Assam roofed turtle Brown roofed turtle Indian roofed turtle Indian tent turtle
Rhinoclemmys	Black river turtle Brown wood turtle Colombian wood turtle Furrowed wood turtle Large-nosed wood turtle Maracaibo wood turtle Mexican spotted wood turtle Painted wood turtle Spot-legged turtle
Sacalia	Beal's eyed turtle Four-eyed turtle
Siebenrockiella	Black marsh turtle Philippine forest turtle
Vijayachelys	Cane turtle
Phylogenetic arrangement based on turtles of the world 2011 update: annotated checklist.