Critically Endangered
Dahl's toad-headed turtle
Mesoclemmys dahli
Dahl's toad-headed turtle is a turtle in the family Chelidae — Mesoclemmys dahli, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
M. Dahli has an olive to brown carapace, that is oval to elliptical (to 22.9 cm ) and widest behind the middle with a slightly serrated posterior rim. It is somewhat flattened dorsally, and the lateral marginals are upturned. Plastron, bridge, and undersides of the marginals are cream to yellow with gray pigment outlining the seams.
The 2nd and 3rd vertebrals are also usually broader than long, but the 4th, the smallest of the series, may be slightly longer or as long as broad.
Its fore lobe is longer and broader than the hind lobe. The narrowness of the posterior lobe is particularly noticeable in males, and its breadth is only 36-38% of the plastral length.
Range and habitat
M. Dahli is only known from the lower Magdalena and Sinú river basins in the Atlántico, Bolívar, Córdoba and Sucre Departments in northern Colombia. Medem (1966) reported that the habitat at the type locality of M. Dahli was originally ponds and small brooks within forests, but with the clearing of the woodlands the entire area around the type locality has been transformed into pastures. Aestivation occurs during dry periods.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
M. Dahli is predominantly carnivorous, feeding on snails, aquatic insects, other aquatic invertebrates, fish, and amphibians. Carrion is also eaten.
In crisis
This critically endangered freshwater turtle is endemic to northern Colombia, where it lives in small pools, streams, and swamps, but aestivates on land.
Dahl's toad-headed 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 Dahl's toad-headed turtle, Wikidata item Q901188. 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.
