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Pelusios castaneus (SCHWEIGGER, 1812)

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Higher TaxaPelomedusidae, Pelomedusoidea, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: African Mud Turtle 
SynonymEmys castanea SCHWEIGGER 1812
Sternotherus Castaneus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 401
Sternotherus derbianus GRAY 1844 (fide LAURENT 1965)
Sternotherus nigricans seychellensis SIEBENROCK 1906
Pelusios nigricans castaneus — HEWITT 1935: 344
Pelusios subniger castaneus — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1961
Pelusios castaneus derbianus — LAURENT 1956
Sternothaerus nigricans seychellensis — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977
Pelusios seychellensis — KING & BURKE 1989
Pelusios seychellensis — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 19
Pelusios castaneus — KING & BURKE 1989
Pelusios castaneus — BROADLEY 1998
Pelusios cf. castaneus — GOSSMANN et al. 2002
Pelusios seychellensis — JOSEPH-OUNI 2004
Pelusios castaneus — STUCKAS et al. 2013
Pelusios castaneus castaneus — TTWG 2014: 437
Pelusios castaneus seychellensis — TTWG 2014: 437
Pelusios castaneus — TTWG 2021 
DistributionGuinea (Conakry), Senegal, Mauritania ?, Nigeria, W Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire); Burkina Faso, Mali (?; Joger & Lambert 1996), Cameroon (?), Gabon (GRAMENTZ 1999), São Tomé (Gulf of Guinea, D. Hofer, pers. comm., 18 Apr 2013), Central African Republic, Gambia, Benin, Angola

Type locality: "Patria ignota" (unknown); neotype from “vicinity of Koutchatcha (7º20' N, 1º18' E), a village close to the Amou River (ca. 30 km East of Gléï), Ogou Prefecture, Plateaux Region, Togo”.

seychellensis: type locality in error, see comment.  
ReproductionOviparous. Exhibits temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Cornejo-Páramo et al. 2020 (and references therein). 
TypesNeotype: MNHN 2008.0303 (castaneus)
Lectotype: NMW 13247, designated by Bour 1983:353. Paralectotypes: ZMH R 00982, ZMH R 00983, ZMH R 00993(Broadley 1981:655, Bour et al. 2016) [seychellensis] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1915 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSubspecies: Pelusios castaneus chapini has been raised to species status.

Distribution not corrected yet for that raise. Not in Mauritania according to Padial (pers. comm.). The type locality of Pelusios seychellensis was incorrectly reported as the Iles Glorieuse (=Gloriosa Isles), north of Madagascar, by Loveridge (1941) or "Seychelles" and then restricted to "Seychelles; Mahe" by Siebenrock 1909. For maps see TTWG 2014 and Kindler et al. 2015. The

Synonymy: P. seychellensis is a synonym of P. castaneus fide STUCKAS et al. 2013. See Bour for a somwhat different synonymy.

Conservation: Pelusios seychellensis was declared extinct since 1912 (fide JOSEPH-OUNI 2004) or ca. 1950 (RHODIN et al. 2010), but since it is a synonym of P. castaneus it hasn’t been extinct.

Habitat: freshwater (Lakes, quiet rivers) 
Etymologynamed after the latinized Greek word “kastanea” = brown. 
References
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