Trionyx triunguis ( Forskål, 1775 )

Aidek, Ahmad E., Saad, Adib, Jablonski, Daniel, Esterbauer, Hans & Fritz, Uwe, 2024, Turtles and tortoises of Syria: Diversity, distribution, and conservation, Zootaxa 5506 (2), pp. 151-193 : 170

Trionyx triunguis ( Forskål, 1775)

African Softshell Turtle, Nile Softshell Turtle ( Fig. 18 )

IUCN Red List Category: Vulnerable (VU A4bcd); Mediterranean subpopulation Critically Endangered (CR C2a; TTWG 2021)

Type locality: “Nilo” [ Nile River , Egypt] .

Type specimen: Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, MNHN 4147 , lectotype designated by Bour et al. (1995). There are two paralectotypes, MNHN A.5186 and A.5227 .

Chorotype: Afrotropico-Mediterranean.

First record for Syria: Nahr Al-Kabir Al-Janoubi, dating back to the “ Naturalis historia ” by Pliny the Elder (Gaius Secundus Plinius 77–79, reprinted 1855–1857).

Literature data: Middle Orontes River in Ain Taqa in the Ghab Valley ( Kinzelbach 1986), Nahr Al-Kabir Al-Janoubi ( Kasparek & Kinzelbach 1991).

Recent records: An individual was swimming in the Nahr Al-Kabir Al-Janobi River on the Syrian-Lebanese border, on August 4, 2004, during an afternoon field survey (Saad & Rees unpubl.). Another individual in the village of Al-Qabou was transferred on July 16, 2005 from a spring to a freshwater pool near Sanwbar Beach (Saad unpubl.). There are two records from the upper Orontes River. One T. triunguis was caught by a fisherman in Al-Alani on October 15, 2020 ( Fig. 18B ), and another one was found dead on the riverbank in Al-Hamziyeh on May 17, 2022 (Baniasi unpubl.).

Distribution in Syria: Restricted to the Nahr Al-Kabir Al-Janoubi and the Orontes River ( Fig. 19 ).

Remarks: Fritz et al. (2022) reviewed several studies providing anecdotal information on the phylogeography of T. triunguis . Mediterranean populations, presumably including those from Syria, represent a single population connected across the sea, while those from sub-Saharan Africa appear to be divergent.

Figures

FIGURE 18. Nile Softshell Turtle, Trionyx triunguis. (A) Young individual, southern coast of Lebanon (photo: Rami Khashab); (B) adult individual, caught and killed by a fisherman, Al-Alani, upper Orontes (photo: H. Baniasi).

FIGURE 19. Records of Trionyx triunguis in Syria. Black circle: previous record, blue circle: recently confirmed previous record, red circles: new records.