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Burmese Peacock Softshell

Nilssonia formosa

About

The Burmese Peacock Softshell is a very rare species of turtle which is endemic to Myanmar.

The Burmese Peacock Softshell is within the superfamily of Trionychia which contains all softshell turtles and it diverged 144 million years ago, before the evolution of flowering plants.

This species is also part of the Nilssonia genus of turtles which diverged from all other genera in the Trionchidae family around 27 million years ago, during the Paleogene period, just before the time of the first common ancestor of all apes.

The main threat to this species is trading for the East Asian food market. It is now rare in the wild and it not known to inhabit any protected areas.

  • Order: Testudines
  • Family: Trionychidae
  • Population: Previously abundant
  • Trend: decreasing

EDGE Score

EDGE Score: 5.70 (?)
ED Score: 36.278 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List (?)
Not Evaluated Data Deficient Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild Extinct

Distribution

The Burmese Peacock Softshell is found in Myanmar

Habitat and Ecology

The Burmese Peacock Softshell is an oviparous species, meaning it lays eggs externally which then hatch after an incubation period.

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