Manouria emys
Encyclopedia
Asian forest tortoise also known as Asian brown tortoise, is a species
of tortoise
found in India
(Assam
), Bangladesh
, Burma (or Myanmar), Thailand
, Malaysia and Indonesia
(Sumatra
, Borneo
).
Believed to be among the most primitive of living tortoises, based on molecular and morphological studies. This is the only tortoise which lays its eggs above ground in a nest, which the female constructs of leaf litter. The female uses both front and rear legs to gather material for the nest and lays up to 50 eggs deep inside it. She then sits on and near the nest to protect it, and will 'chase' predators and intruders away.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
found in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
), Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Burma (or Myanmar), Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Malaysia and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
).
Description
The largest tortoise in mainland Asia; large adult of the northern subspecies, M.e. phayrei, can reach 25 kg in the wild and much more than that in captivity. Shell considerably depressed, its depth not half its length; anterior and posterior margins reverted, more or less strongly serrated; nuchal present; supracaudal shields two; dorsal shields concentrically striated, often concave; vertebrals much broader than long and at least as broad as costals. Plastron large, gular region somewhat produced and usually notched, hind lobe deeply notched; the pectoral shields may be widely separated from each other, or from a short median suture; axillary shield very small, inguinal large. Head moderate; two large prefrontal shields and a large frontal; beak not hooked; jaws feebly denticulated, the alveolar surface of the upper jaw with a strong median ridge. Fore limb anteriorly with very large, bony, pointed, imbricate tubercles, forming four or five longitudinal series; hind limb with very large bony tubercles on the plantar surface, with others larger, conical, and spur-like on the heel, and a group of still larger conical tubercles on each side on the back of the thighs. Adult dark brown or blackish; carapace of young yellowish brown, with dark-brown markings.Believed to be among the most primitive of living tortoises, based on molecular and morphological studies. This is the only tortoise which lays its eggs above ground in a nest, which the female constructs of leaf litter. The female uses both front and rear legs to gather material for the nest and lays up to 50 eggs deep inside it. She then sits on and near the nest to protect it, and will 'chase' predators and intruders away.
Subspecies
- Manouria emys emys: S Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo; Type locality: Sumatra. M. e. emys has separated pectoral scutes while M. e. phayrei has joined pectoral scutes.
- Manouria emys phayrei: N/W Thailand to NE India; Type locality: Arakan; Tenasserim Provinces'. M. e. phayrei has been named after Sir Arthur Purves PhayreArthur Purves PhayreLieutenant-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, GCMG, KCSI, CB was a career British Indian Army officer who was the first Commissioner of British Burma, 1862–1867, Governor of Mauritius, 1874–1878, and author....
(1812–1885), British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer in India who became Commissioner of British Burma.
Other references
Listed as Endangered (EN A1cd+2 cd v2.3)- Anderson, J. 1871 On Testudo Phayrei, Theob. & Dr. Gray. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 8: 324-330
- Blyth, E.Edward BlythEdward Blyth was an English zoologist and pharmacist. He was one of the founders of zoology in India....
1854 Notices and descriptions of various reptiles, new or little-known. Part I. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 22 [1853]: 639-655 - Schlegel, H. & Müller, S. 1844 Over de Schildpadden van den Indischen Archipel. In: Temminck,V. (1839–1847) Verhandelingen over de natuurlijke geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche bezittingen, door de leden der Natuurkundige Commisie in Oost-Indie en andere schrijvers. Leijden folio. Afd. 1 Zoologie in 12 afleveringen, met 45 gekl. pl. - Vitg. door C.J. Temminck, Leiden, Leuchtmans u. Hoeck in comm.: 29-36
- Stoliczka, F.Ferdinand StoliczkaFerdinand Stoliczka was a Moravian palaeontologist who worked in India on paleontology, geology and various aspects of zoology. He died of high altitude sickness during an expedition across the Himalayas.-Early life:Stoliczka was born at the lodge Zámeček near Kroměříž in Moravia...
1871 Note on Testudo Phayrei. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 8: 212