Critically Endangered
Asian giant softshell turtle
Pelochelys cantorii
Asian giant softshell turtle is a turtle in the family Trionychidae — Pelochelys cantorii, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The Asian giant softshell turtle has a broad head, and small eyes close to the tip of its snout. The carapace is smooth and olive-colored. Juveniles may have dark-spotted carapaces and heads, with yellow around the carapace.
Apparently the largest specimen carapace length, 129 cm (51 in), known is considered suspect and the heaviest specimen known (weighing approximately 250 kg (550 lb) was actually a misidentified Yangtze giant softshell turtle.
Despite reports that it can grow up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in length and is the largest extant freshwater turtle, this maximum size and title is murky at best. A more realistic range of carapace length for this species is reportedly 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) and it is one of about a half-dozen giant softshell turtles from three genera that reach exceptionally large sizes, i.e. In excess of 100 kg (220 lb) in mass.
Range and habitat
The species is native to Southeast Asia. The species is critically endangered and in the 20th century has disappeared from much of its former range.
The geographic range of the turtle was initially murky in the Philippines, but recent studies have confirmed their range in at least two islands, Luzon and Mindanao. Even so, the invasive Chinese softshell turtle has become present in these two islands due to illegal introductions from mainland China.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
The Asian giant softshell turtle is classified as a Critically Endangered by the IUCN and has been forced out through habitat destruction, disappearing from much of its range. The department has yet to resolve this key issue in the conservation of Asian giant softshell turtles in the Philippines, where genetic studies have confirmed that the Philippine populations have distinct features from other populations in Asia.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Asian giant softshell turtle is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Asian giant softshell turtle, Wikidata item Q2006609. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
