Pan's box turtle

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
Pan's box turtle, Cuora pani pani
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Geoemydidae
Genus:	Cuora
Species:	C. pani
Binomial name
Cuora pani Song, 1984
Synonyms[3]
Cuora pani Song, 1984 Cuora chriskarannarum Ernst & McCord, 1987 Cuora chriskarannorum [sic] Obst & Reimann, 1994 (ex errore) Cuora pani pani — Artner, 2003 Pyxiclemmys pani pani — Vetter, 2006

The Pan's box turtle is a highly endangered species on the verge of extinction. Each catch of the Pan's box turtle rewards upwards of $10,000 per trade (Turtle Conservancy, 2017).

Plastron

Etymology

The specific name, pani, is probably in honor of Chinese herpetologist Pan Lei.^[4]

The common name, Pan's box turtle, refers to its ability to seal itself within its shell.^[5]

Geographic range

Cuora pani pani, the nominotypical subspecies, is endemic to the central Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Hubei (Blanck & Tang, 2005).^[1]