Rafetus
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Rafetus is a genus of highly endangered softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. It is a genus of large turtles which are found in freshwater habitats in Eurasia.
Taxonomy
Evolution
Phylogenetic evidence largely suggests that Rafetus is most closely related to the widespread North American genus Apalone. The two genera appear to have diverged during the Late Eocene, likely when the ancestors of Apalone dispersed into North America via Beringia.[1][2]
Species
According to most taxonomists, the genus Rafetus contains the following two extant species.
- Rafetus euphraticus (Daudin, 1801)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Euphrates softshell turtle; Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Khūzestān Province of Iran. IUCN: Endangered.[3]
- Rafetus swinhoei (Gray, 1873)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Yangtze giant softshell turtle; Only three known living individuals, one in Suzhou Zoo (China) and two in two lakes in northern Vietnam, Dong Mo lake and Xuan Khanh lake. IUCN: Critically endangered.[4]
A possible third species, Rafetus leloii Hà, 2000Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". (synonym R. vietnamensis Le et al., 2010Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".), known commonly as the Hoan Kiem turtle, has been proposed as a species. It is considered a junior synonym of Rafetus swinhoei by most authorities,[5] but some Vietnamese scientists insist the two forms are not identical. The last known individual at Hoan Kiem Lake was found dead on 19 January 2016.[6][7]
An extinct species R. bohemicus Liebus, 1930Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". from the Burdigalian age of the Early Miocene (about 17.5 million years ago) lived in what is today the Czech Republic.[8]
Cladogram as drawn by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson, and Igor G. Danilov (2009)[9]
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References
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External links
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- Gray JE (1864). "Revision of the Species of Trionychidae found in Asia and Africa, with Descriptions of some New Species". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864: 76–98. (Rafetus, new genus, p. 81).