Pan's box turtle (Cuora pani) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae (formerly Bataguridae). The yellow-headed box turtle is sometimes included herein as a subspecies (Cuora pani aurocapitata).
Pan's box turtle is a critically endangered species on the verge of extinction. Each catch of Pan's box turtle rewards upwards of $10,000 per trade (Turtle Conservancy, 2017).
Etymology The specific name, pani, is probably in honor of Chinese herpetologist Pan Lei.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Cuora pani, p. 200).
The common name, Pan's box turtle, refers to its ability to seal itself within its shell.
Geographic range Cuora pani pani, the nominotypical subspecies, is endemic to the central Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Hubei (Blanck & Tang, 2005).
Reproduction Cuora pani is oviparous (The Reptile Database).
References
External links
Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A1d+2d).
Further reading
Blanck, Torsten; Tang, Michael (2005). "Ein neuer Fundort von Cuora pani , 1984 mit Diskussion über den taxonomischen Status von Cuora pani und Cuora aurocapitata". Sacalia 7 (3): 16–37. (in German, with summary in English). Song, Ming-tao (1984). "A new species of the turtle genus Cuora (Testudoformes: Testudinidae)". Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 9 (3): 330–332. (Cuora pani, new species). (in Chinese, with summary in English).