FOLIUM PUBLISHING COMPANY VOLUME 30 NUMBER 6 SUPPLEMENT 2023
Cuora amboinensis aurantiae ssp. nov.
Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo by Torsten Blanck Russian Journal of Herpetology ISSN 1026-2296
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DOI: 10.30906/1026-2296-2023-30-6-S-1-52
A TAXONOMIC HIDE AND SEEK: PHYLOGENETIC
AND PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN BOX TURTLE, Cuora amboinensis (RICHE IN DAUDIN, 1801)
Torsten Blanck,1 Daniel Gaillard,2 Tomáš Protiva,3 Madeleine Wheatley,4
Haitao Shi,5 Lin Liu,5 Parimal Chandra Ray,6 and Ben Anders7
Submitted May 14, 2023.
Cuora amboinensis is considered to be the most wide-ranging member of its genus and has one of the widest dis- tributions of all geoemydid turtle species. The range of Cuora amboinensis spans major biogeographic barriers and encompasses diverse habitats. The genetics (nuDNA and mtDNA) and morphometry of 288 Cuora amboinen- sis sensu lato (s.l.) specimens from across its range were analyzed, and we identified five divergent species-level clades and two subspecies-level clades. One of the two identified potential subspecies lacked reliable locality data, requiring further field research before taxonomic steps can be undertaken. We designate a neotype for Cuora am- boinensis sensu stricto and elevate both Cuora amboinensis couro and Cuora amboinensis lineata to species-level taxa. In addition, we describe two new species and one new subspecies from the “Cuora amboinensis” complex. The wide distribution of Cuora amboinensis s.l. is problematic because it is indigenous to many Pacific and Indian Ocean islands. We sought to clarify plausible dispersal hypotheses across islands using phylogeographic analyses.
Keywords: Testudines; Geoemydidae; Cuora; taxonomy; phylogeography; phylogenetics; conservation; species
description; neotype; species complex; cryptic species.
INTRODUCTION 2018). However, turtle populations across the globe are
declining, primarily due to habitat loss and overhar- Turtles are a group of organisms that inhabit every vesting for the pet, food, and medicine trades (Cheung continent except Antarctica, and they provide important and Dudgeon, 2006; Horne et al., 2012; Horne et al., ecological functions ranging from energy flow to soil dy- 2022). Turtles are consequently among the most threat- namics for the environments they inhabit (Lovich et al., ened groups of vertebrates in the world, with 61% of rec- 1 ognized species currently listed as threatened or extinct Turtle Island — Cuora Conservation Center, Kresbach 129, 8530 Deutschlandsberg, Austria; e-mail: info@cuora.org in the wild (Lovich et al., 2018). While an increasing 2 Dalton State College, 650 College Drive, 30720 Dalton, GA, USA; number of turtle species face population declines, Asian e-mail: dgaillrd@gmail.com turtle species are generally evaluated as most imperiled 3 LANDSNAILS.ORG, 14200, Prague, Czech Republic; e-mail: (Turtle Conservation Coalition, 2018). One genus of info@landsnails.org Asian turtle, Cuora (Gray, 1856), has been particularly 4 Turtle Island — Am Katzelbach 98, 8054 Graz, Austria; e-mail: impacted by overharvesting, with 12 of the 13 currently mwheatley@turtle-island.at 5 recognized species listed as endangered (EN) or critically Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Is- lands, Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of endangered (CR) (IUCN Redlist, 2022). Ten species of Hainan Province, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal Univer- this genus are considered to be among the 50 most threat- sity, Haikou 571158, China; e-mail: haitao-shi@263.net ened turtle species in the world (Turtle Conservation Co- 6 Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science alition, 2018). & Technology, Nirjuli, 791 109 Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India; e-mail: parimalcray@gmail.com Cuora amboinensis sensu lato holds an unenviable 7 Sai Kung, Hong Kong S.A.R., China; position among turtles: it is one of the most heavily e-mail: casichelydia@hotmail.com traded of all species (Fauzi et al., 2020, Nijman and
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A Taxonomic Hide and Seek: Phylogenetic and Phylogeographic Relationships
in the Southeast Asian Box Turtle, Cuora amboinensis (Riche in Daudin, 1801) Torsten Blanck, Daniel Gaillard, Tomáš Protiva, Madeleine Wheatley, Haitao Shi, Lin Liu, Parimal Chandra Ray, and Ben Anders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
