TerralogNEWS101
8
anouria
emys
has
a
wide
distribution, from India across
Burma,Thailand,andMalaysia to Indonesia.
M
The tortoise genus
Manouria
contains just two species, namely M.
impressa fromSouth-EastAsia (Thailand,Laos,Vietnam,Burma,Cambodia,
and Malaysia) and the largest tortoise species in Asia,
Manouria emys
,
which cangrowup to60 cm long.
Agentlegiant:
Manouriaemys
byThorstenHoltmann
Tierärzte in Ihrer Nähe
TierärztlichePraxis fürKleintiere
ScharnhorstGmbH
LeitenderTierarzt:
Volker Borchers
Bücherstr.1
44328Dortmund
Tel.0231239051
Fax0231239052
JanWolter
PraktischerTierarzt,
Zierfischpraxis
TegelerWeg24
D-10589Berlin
Tel.03034502210
K.AlexandraDörnath
prakt.Tierärztin
MScWildAnimal Health,MRCVS
TierarztpraxisKleinMexiko
Bennigsenstraße1b
D-28205Bremen
Tel.04214915000
Praxis fürKleintiereundExoten
Dr.med.vet. JürgenSeybold
KleintierzentrumMitteltal
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72270Baiersbronn-Mitteltal
Tel.07449 - 913245
Fax07449 - 913251
praxis@kleintierzentrum-
mitteltal.de
Portrait of anadult female
Manouriaemys.
Photo:ChristophFritz,www.reptilia24.com
Two subspecies are distinguished, and
thesediffer very clearly in their anatomy –
so clearly that they might be thought to
actuallybe twodifferent species.However,
there isa largearea in thesouthofThailand
and the north of Malaysia where
intermediate forms, so-called intergrades,
occur; these cannot be unequivocally
assigned to either of the two forms,which
must therefore be regarded as subspecies
in the zoological sense. The northern
subspecies,
M.emys
phayrei,growsto50-60
cm in size. It is most easily recognized by
the shoulder plates (pectoral scutes)
meeting on the ventral armor. In the
southern subspecies,
M. e. emys
, the
pectoral scutes are small and widely
separated. The latter subspecies remains
significantly smaller at 40-50 cm in length.
It is alsomore contrasting in its coloration,
while
M. e. phayrei
is uniform dark brown.
All thephotos illustrating this article show
M.e.emys
.
Themostancientofall tortoises
Turtlesandtortoisesareanancientorderof
animals that have survived since the time
of the dinosaurs. They are a real
evolutionarysuccessstory.And
Manouria
is
thought to be themost ancient of all the
turtles and tortoises still living on our
planet today. In the geological epoch
known as the Tertiary there were also
Manouria
in Europe; theywereeven larger
than the
M. emys
that exist today, but
otherwisepractically identical.
Manouria
live in evergreen tropical and
