Cuora species are characterized by a low- (e.g. Cuora pani) to high- (e.g. Cuora picturata) domedshell, which usually has three keels on the carapace. They are reddish, yellowish, brown, grey, and/or black in color. Some species have bright yellow, black, orange, or white stripes down the length of their keels. Their body color is highly variable and typically very bright. Most species show stripes of variable color down either side of their head that usually meet at the nose.
Background
Asian box turtles are the most heavily trafficked turtles in the world. They are captured and sold as food to China and to the United States as pets. Nancy Karraker, a University of Rhode Island associate professor, has said "Trafficking in turtles is a major issue in Southeast Asia, and it's important that we understand the key ecological roles that species like this box turtle play before it's too late".[2]
Different conservation organizations are taking action to prevent or slow down the extinction of these species, but in the past, most of the efforts failed due to lack of biological research regarding the history or genetic diversity of these species.[3]
Behavior
Asian box turtles are terrestrial, semiaquatic, or mainly aquatic. They typically spend much of their time on the edge of shallow swamps, streams, or ponds that are dense with vegetation. Most are omnivorous, but carnivorous diets do occur.
Cuora serrata, originally described as C. galbinifrons serrata by Iverson & Mccord[5] and later considered a distinct species,[6] is a hybrid of the keeled box turtle and taxa of the Indochinese box turtle complex as shown by the genetic studies of Parham et al.[7] and Stuart & Parham (2004). A single specimen of C. serrata has been found in the wild,[8] lending credence to the possibility that other specimens arose through natural hybridization or even from wild populations. No Chinese turtle farm is known to produce C. serrata-like specimens.[9] The occurrence of wild hybrids is often regarded as "evolution in progress", a terminology and point of view that is not always accepted. It has yet to be confirmed whether all C. serrata from the wild originated by direct hybridization of C. mouhotii and C. galbinifrons, or also by "hybridisation" of C. serrata × C. serrata.
Unnamed hybrids of several other Cuorataxa are also known,[Note 1] as are intergeneric hybrids such as Mauremys iversoni,[10] a hybrid between Cuora trifasciata and Mauremys mutica, which is intentionally produced in Chinese turtle farms.[7]
Fossil species
†Cuora chiangmuanensis[11] (Late Miocene of Thailand)
Wild-caught C. amboinensis specimens were frequently available in the exotic animal trade, but are getting rarer now; other species are rare to commercially extinct.
^Rhodin, Anders D. J.; Iverson, John B.; Fritz, Uwe; Gallego-Garcia, Natalia; Georges, Arthur; Shaffer, H. Bradley; van Dijk, Peter Paul (September 2025). Turtles of the World: Checklist and Atlas (10th Ed.)(PDF). IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group.
^F. J. Obst & U. Fritz (1997). "Zum taxonomischen Status von Cuora galbinifrons serrata Iverson & McCord, 1992 und Pyxidea mouhotii (Gray, 1862)". Zoologische Abhandlungen. 49 (2). Museum für Tierkunde Dresden: 261–279.
