Beale's eyed turtle

Beale's eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae (formerly Bataguridae). This species has a yellowish-brown, smooth, rather depressed carapace spotted with black with a olive-green head. Another form of this species has a brown carapace. In both forms, there are two pairs of black-centered ocelli on the back of the head which is peppered with black spots. This is a turtle of moderate size and will grow up to a maximum length of 18 cm (7 inches). This nocturnal species lives in mountain streams at all elevations (but with a preference for heavily forest-covered streams with many large stones so as to provide shelter) and feeds on crayfish and worms, and accepts meat in captivity. This timid and nervous species will scramble and flail wildly with its claws when handled and is reported to lay 6 eggs at a time. [2] The nests are often half-buried by leaves and soil, and the entire nesting process may take up to 165 minutes.[3]

Beale's eyed turtle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Geoemydidae
Genus: Sacalia
Species:
S. bealei
Binomial name
Sacalia bealei
(Gray, 1831)
Synonyms[1]
  • Cistuda bealei
    Gray, 1831
  • Emys bealii [sic]
    Gray, 1834 (ex errore)
  • Emys (Pyxidemys) bealei
    — Fitzinger, 1835
  • Clemmys bealii
    — Strauch, 1862
  • Sacalia bealii
    — Gray, 1870
  • Cistudo bealii
    — Siebenrock, 1909
  • Clemmys [bealii] bealii
    — Siebenrock, 1909
  • Chemmys [sic] beali
    T. Vogt, 1922 (ex errore)
  • Clemmys bealei
    — Lindholm, 1929
  • Cistudo bealei
    — M.A. Smith, 1931
  • Sacalia bealei
    — McDowell, 1964
  • Mauremys bealei
    — Wermuth & Mertens, 1977
  • Sacalia beali
    — Ewert in Harless & Morlock, 1979
  • Sacalia bealei bealei
    — C. Ernst & R. Barbour, 1989
  • Clemmys beadei [sic]
    Yeh, 1994 (ex errore)

Common names

It is sometimes called Beale's four-eyed turtle, though that is not an ideal common name due to the possibility of confusion with the four-eyed turtle proper (Sacalia quadriocellata).

The specific name, bealei, is in honor of Thomas Beale, a Scottish naturalist and merchant in China.[4]

Geographic range

Sacalia bealei occurs throughout the provinces of central and Southern China. It is considered very rare in Hong Kong.[2]

Conservation status

Listed as endangered by the IUCN,[5] these turtles are hunted for use in folk medicine.[6] However, the Hong Kong Reptile and Amphibian Society has found that this species is sold in pet shops in Hong Kong, with the specimens almost certainly locally caught, even though the species is locally protected.[7] It is also threatened by habitat loss. The fact that it lays only one clutch per year and that the eggs are often heavily infested with ants makes conservation efforts even harder for this already very rare species.[3][8]

Footnotes
  1. Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 247. ISSN 1864-5755. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  2. Karsen, Stephen J.; Wai-Ming, Lau; Bogadek, Anthony (1998). Hong Kong Amphibians and Reptiles. Hong Kong: Provisional Urban Council. p. 75. ISBN 962-7849-05-7.
  3. Lin, Liu; Hu, Qingru; Fong, Jonathan J.; Yang, Jiangbo; Chen, Zhongdong; Zhou, Feiyu; Wang, Jichao; Xiao, Fanrong; Shi, Haitao (2018-06-14). "Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal's-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei". PeerJ. 6: e4997. doi:10.7717/peerj.4997. ISSN 2167-8359.
  4. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael. (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Sacalia bealei, p. 20).
  5. ATTWG (2000)
  6. da Nóbrega Alves et al. (2008)
  7. "香港爬蟲協會 - 香港受保護野生動物". www.hkras.org. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
  8. "Beal's Four Eyed Turtle - Sacalia bealei". HongKongSnakeID.com. Retrieved 2020-11-21.

References
  • Asian Turtle Trade Working Group (ATTWG). (2000). "Sacalia bealei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2000: e.T19796A97377507. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T19796A9016239.en.{{cite iucn}}: error: |doi= / |page= mismatch (help) Listed as Endangered (EN A1d+2d).
  • Boulenger, George Albert. (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). New Edition. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). x + 311 pp. + Plates I- VI. ("Clemmys bealii [sic]", p. 107).
  • da Nóbrega Alves, Rômulo Romeu; da Silva Vieira, Washington Luiz; Gomes Santana, Gindomar. (2008): "Reptiles used in traditional folk medicine: conservation implications". Biodiversity and Conservation 17 (8): 2037–2049. doi:10.1007/s10531-007-9305-0 (HTML abstract, PDF first page)
  • Gray, John Edward. (1831). Synopsis Reptilium; or Short Descriptions of the Species of Reptiles. Part I.—Cataphracta. Tortoises, Crocodiles, and Enaliosaurians. London: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Co. viii + 85 pp. ("Cistuda Bealei ", p. 71).
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