Batagur affinis edwardmolli, Praschag, Peter, Holloway, Rohan, Georges, Arthur, Päckert, Martin, Hundsdörfer, Anna K. & Fritz, Uwe, 2009

Praschag, Peter, Holloway, Rohan, Georges, Arthur, Päckert, Martin, Hundsdörfer, Anna K. & Fritz, Uwe, 2009, A new subspecies of Batagur affinis (Cantor, 1847), one of the world’s most critically endangered chelonians (Testudines: Geoemydidae), Zootaxa 2233, pp. 57-68 : 64-65

Batagur affinis edwardmolli subsp. nov.

Holotype. Natural History Museum Vienna, NMW 38903, juvenile in alcohol (hatched and died in captivity), Sre Ambel River system, Koh Kong Province, Cambodia; don. Head Start Centre Sre Ambel, July 2009.

Paratypes. Museum of Zoology Dresden, MTD 47538, juvenile in alcohol, same data as holotype. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, FMNH 224093 (ex EOM 2398; specimen figured on Plate IIIA in Moll 1980), broken shell of adult female, Terengganu River, Malaysia; leg. Edward O. Moll, 7 July 1976.

Etymology. The new subspecies is named in recognition of Professor Edward O. Moll, one of the foremost experts on river turtles, who substantially contributed to the knowledge of Batagur affinis and its natural history.

Diagnosis. Adults differ from nominotypical subspecies of Batagur affinis by their distinctly more elongated head with upturned snout; males with chocolate brown to almost black head (east coast of peninsular Malaysia) or sometimes rusty brown to reddish head (Sre Ambel River system, Cambodia), edges of mouth orange; iris golden or bright yellow. Females and juveniles with conspicuous whitish grey to silvery blotches in temporal and parietal region; hatchlings with distally yellow marginal scutes. For corresponding characters of B. a. affinis , see Table 2.

Description of holotype. Specimen slightly macerated; some epidermal scutes detached from shell. Carapace roundish when viewed from above, with weakly serrated central and posterior marginal scutes; medial keel distinct, with posteriorly directed, slightly pointed spines. Plastron anteriorly truncated, posteriorly with anal notch. Straight line carapace length approximately 86 mm, carapace width 84 mm; medial plastron length 74 mm, maximum plastron length (to tips of anal scutes) 78 mm.

Range: East coast of peninsular Malaysia and adjacent Thailand; Sre Ambel River system, Cambodia ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Historical distribution of Batagur affinis affinis, B. a. edwardmolli, and B. baska (modified from Praschag et al. 2008). Note that the species are extirpated in most of their former ranges.