Yellow Pond Turtle

Yellow Pond Turtle (Mauremys mutica) is a medium semiaquatic turtle reaching about 19.5 cm, with a broad yellow stripe behind the eye and down the neck. Its grey-brown to brown upper shell contrasts with a yellow or orange lower shell marked by dark marginal blotches. Identification should combine the documented shell or scale characters with locality, because related reptiles can be similar. All claims are limited to the species accounts opened for this batch (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).

It is native from Vietnam and Laos through southern and central coastal China, Taiwan, Hainan and parts of the Ryukyu Islands. Southern Ryukyu populations are considered native, whereas populations farther north in the Ryukyus and central Japan are thought to descend from turtles imported from Taiwan (Wikipedia, general species account). Details not supported at species level are omitted rather than supplied from related reptiles. Japanese occurrence follows the site's catalogue and the cited distribution information, without using any IUCN conservation material (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).