Like many other turtles, yellow-margined box turtles have poor hearing, a good sense of vision and smell, but mosty use touch to communicate.
Communication Channels: tactile
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical
Yellow margined box turtle populations have declined in various areas. This has been caused by habitat destruction (land development and agriculture), over harvesting for human consumption and traditional Chinese medicine, and also harvesting for the pet trade. Populations are now protected in Taiwan and Japan.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix ii
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: endangered
Juvenille turtles (1 to 11 years old) grow at 1.8 to 12 mm per year. After males reach sexual maturity they stop growing. Females continue to grow until age 18.
There are no known adverse effects of yellow margined box turtles on humans.
Yellow margined box turtles are harvested for human consumption, to make traditional Chinese medicine, and to be kept as pets. Their medicinal value is not supported by research and these activities may threaten populations of turtles.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; food
Yellow margined box turtles are predators of fish, insects, and mollusks. Other ecosystem roles have yet to be researched.
Yellow-margined box turtles are omnivorous. In the wild they eat snails, slugs, worms, berries, and leaves. In captivity they are fed a similar diet, along with vegetables and cat food. Though cat food has been proven to have too much fat in it. Sheep bones, with the fat removed are also fed to the turtles for a good source of calcium. Captive turtles in early life stages should not eat as much because it could cause shell deformities.
Animal Foods: mollusks; terrestrial worms
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
Yellow-margined box turtles can be found in China, mostly along the Fuchun, Pearl, and Yangtze River drainages. In Japan they are found mostly in southern Ryukyu and Tiawan, in the Tamsui River.
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native )
Other Geographic Terms: island endemic
Yellow-margined box turtles live in areas with wet winters and hot summers. Their habitats are highly variable because these turtles are semi-aquatic. They spend much time on land in hilly, dense evergreen forests, low elevation grass lands, and in aquatic systems such as rice patties, streams, and rivers. During the winter these animals can be found hibernating under logs, undergrowth, thick leaves, and even in abandoned burrows. Habitats vary with reproductive state and season. Reproductive females, from April to July, are found in evergreen forest edges and from August to March, they are found in evergreen forest interiors. Females that aren't reproducing are found in evergreen forest interiors.
Range elevation: 200 to 500 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial ; freshwater
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; mountains
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams
Nothing is known about lifespans of yellow-margined box turtles.
Yellow-margined box turtles are mostly dark brown. The shell is highly domed and dark-colored dark with some red and pale yellow stripes. Color intensity may fade with age. The limbs are dark brown. The forefeet have five claws and the rear have four. The head is also brown with pale green on top, apricot-pink under the neck, and bright yellow lines behind both eyes along the side of the face. Males and females look mostly alike. Females are typically larger and males have broader, larger, more triangular tails.
Range mass: 1000 (high) g.
Range length: 120 to 190 mm.
Average length: 160 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
In the wild, eggs are preyed upon by Taiwan kukri snakes, Iriomote cats, and large, predatory birds. To protect the eggs, females cover them with dirt and dig nests in protected areas.
Known Predators:
Yellow-margined box turtles mate year round, but most mating activity is from November through March. Males normally breed with more than one female throughout the breeding year. Copulation takes approximately 10 minutes.
Mating System: polygynous
Before nesting, females spend much of their time in open, sunny areas to keep their body temperatures up and accelerate egg development. Then nesting occurs during the summer months, May through September. The clutch is laid in shaded, soft, damp sand or soil. There can be 1 to 4 eggs per clutch and a possibility of many clutches per season. In total there are 4 to 9 eggs laid. The eggs are 38 to 52 mm long by 13 to 25 mm wide and weigh 11 to 18.5 g. The time from mating to hatching is anywhere from 68 to 101 days. Hatchlings weigh between 8 and 13 g at hatching.
Breeding interval: Breeding typically occurs several times throughout the year.
Breeding season: Breeding can occur throughout the year but is most common from November to March.
Range number of offspring: 2 to 9.
Average number of offspring: 4.
Range gestation period: 68 to 101 days.
Range time to independence: 10 to 15 hours.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 14 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 13 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
There is little parental care in this species. The female will bury the eggs before hatching, protecting the eggs from predators.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
The Chinese box turtle (simplified Chinese: 食蛇龟; traditional Chinese: 食蛇龜; pinyin: shíshéguī; lit. 'Snake-eating turtle'), also known as the yellow-margined box turtle, or golden-headed turtle, is a species of Asian box turtle. Taxonomically, it is called Cuora flavomarginata.[8]
C. flavomarginata has a highly domed shell, the carapace and plastron of which are a dark brown with a cream-yellow stripe on the vertebral keel. The edge of the plastron is lightly pigmented due to the marginal scutes' and plastral scutes' lighter pigmentation near their edges. The skin on the limbs is brown, while the top of the head is pale green. Each side of the head has a yellow line extending from behind the eye backward. The skin beneath the head and between the limbs is a lighter pinkish color.
The name box turtle refers to C. flavomarginata's ability to bring the plastron to the edges of the carapace. This is enabled by a hinge on the plastron and ligaments connecting the carapace and plastron, which allows for limited movement.
The forefeet have five claws, while the rear have four.
The external difference between male and female C. flavomarginata is slight. Males have a broader tail than females that is almost triangular in shape.
C. flavomarginata is found in Central China: Hunan, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, eastern Sichuan, Zhejiang & Jiangsu provinces (generally along the Yangtze drainage).[9] It is also found in Taiwan and Japan, specifically the Ryukyu Islands, Ishigaki, and Iriomote.[10]
C. flavomarginata is omnivorous, and will eat a large variety of foods. "Adults favor earthworms, frozen pinkies (defrosted), snails, slugs, and mealworms. They also eat dry trout chow and moistened dry cat food, canned cat food; fruits including strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, and papaya; and vegetables including grated carrots, corn on the cob, and squash. Leafy greens are ignored. Invertebrates that the turtles hunt for include June bug (Phyllophaga) larvae and slugs being principal prey."[11]
In 1863, John Edward Gray described the species as Cistoclemmys flavomarginata.[3] It was later moved to Cyclemys, and then to Cuora. In the 2012 issue of the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group's Checklist, the species is listed as Cuora with two recognized subspecies.[7]
Two subspecies have been recognised:
This species has hybridized with Mauremys japonica in captivity and with female Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtles both in captivity and in the wild.[12]
The yellow-margined box turtle is considered to be an endangered species by the IUCN.[1] Threats to the Taiwanese population include habitat loss due to expansion of cultivated lands.[1]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) The Chinese box turtle (simplified Chinese: 食蛇龟; traditional Chinese: 食蛇龜; pinyin: shíshéguī; lit. 'Snake-eating turtle'), also known as the yellow-margined box turtle, or golden-headed turtle, is a species of Asian box turtle. Taxonomically, it is called Cuora flavomarginata.
