Black softshell turtle

Temple of soft-shelled turtle ( Aspideretes nigricans )

The temple soft-shelled turtle ( Aspideretes nigricans ), also called Black soft turtle, is an extremely rare turtle species from the genus of Indian soft-shelled turtles ( Aspideretes ). It is one of the large breed softshell turtles reaching the carapace length of the Ganges soft-shelled turtle quite. It applies as extinct in the wild. Their occurrence is limited to an artificial pond in a temple area in southeastern Bangladesh. The stock was in 1986 three hundred individuals.

Appearance

The temple soft-shelled turtle has a carapace length of up to 91 centimeters. The carapace is low and oval. Of this kind there are two color morphs. A color morph has a copper colored shiny carapace with black spots and darkens with age. The plastron is white, top of the head and neck are gray. Temples and upper lip are white spotted.

The second color morph has an olive-green carapace, are also on the dark spots. In this morph the head on the top is grauoliv. Snout, neck and the game over the eyes, however, are dark yellow.

Males can be distinguished from the females by their larger carapace length and the longer and thicker tail.

Dissemination and lifestyle

Today, this species is found only in a 94 × 61 -foot pool of water next to a shrine of Bayazid Bostami, an Islamic mystics of Sufism, before in Nasirabad in Chittagong in southeastern Bangladesh. The water level in the pool water is between 2.5 and 5 meters. Until the 1980s there was a second occurrence in a moat, but this was drained.

The animals are believed to be entirely dependent on the feed that visitors buy the cry for them. Several stalls near offer for this shrimp, fish, bread, rice, tea leaves and bananas.

Reproduction

The pairing occurred in the period from mid-February to mid-March. The females lay their eggs on a lying near the water tank hill. They dig there a 20 to 25 centimeters deep Nistgrube and place 10-38 round, white eggs in it. The length of time juveniles to hatch from the eggs is, 92-108 days. The Schlüpfzeitpunkt coincides with the onset of monsoon. Because of the rain the ground is then softened. Newly hatched juveniles weigh 14-19 grams.

Protection status

The temple soft-shell turtle is listed on Appendix I of the CITES agreement and may not be caught, held or traded. Due to the immediate situation at the temple they are protected by the guards cry. When limited to a place this turtle population is threatened by epidemics. It was in 1991 proposed to establish a second population elsewhere with some of the animals.

Evidence