East African black mud turtle
Dark Pelomeduse ( Pelusios subniger )
The Dark Pelomeduse ( Pelusios subniger ) is a water -bound nature of the neck turner turtles, which belongs to the family of Pelomedusenschildkröten. It is native to the tropical eastern and southern Africa. Stock figures of this kind are not known. It is listed on any of the international conservation lists. But it occurs among others in the African national parks and reserves Kruger National Park, Mana Pools, Gonarezhou National Park, Chizarira National Park, Matusadona and Hwange National Park.
Appearance
The Dark Pelomeduse reaches a carapace length of up to 20 centimeters. The females are slightly larger than males. The color of the carapace is brown. The plastron is mostly yellowish with brown spots along the plate edges.
The head is large with a blunt- snout. The head color is uniformly brown and has only occasionally a fine drawing on. The skin on the neck and the limbs is gray or black.
Area of distribution and habitat
The Dark Pelomeduse has a much smaller distribution area than the rigid thoracic Pelomeduse, with their distribution in places, overlap. They occur in tropical East Africa. For distribution area belongs to the north of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. The distribution area in the Republic of South Africa is limited to the north-east of the Kruger National Park.
The habitat of the Dark Pelomeduse provide predominantly short-term waterholes; they do but also occurs in swamps, the lead for most of the year, water and other still waters. During the dry season, the Dark Pelomeduse digs in the ground.
Nutrition and reproduction
The Dark Pelomeduse is an omnivore. To their food range includes aquatic insects and amphibians and aquatic plants and ripe fruit.
Little is known about the reproduction of the Dark Pelomeduse. The mating season falls to current findings in the summer. The female lays the clutch in February and March. A clutch consists of eight eggs.