Amphibians and reptiles from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh
Author
Hakim, Jonathan
Author
Trageser, Scott J.
Author
Ghose, Animesh
Author
Rashid, Sheikh Muhammad Abdur
Author
Rahman, Shahriar Caesar
text
Check List
2020
2020-09-23
16
5
1239
1268
http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1239
journal article
10.15560/16.5.1239
1809-127X
Indotestudo elongata
(Blyth, 1854)
Material examined.
BANGLADESH
•
1 adult
; Syl-
het Division
,
Moulvibazar District
,
Kamalganj Upazila
, LNP, near
Baghmara village
;
24°20.56′N
,
091°48.64′E
;
18 Jun. 2015
; photo voucher
ZRC
(
IMG
) 2.359
.
Identification.
Unique in the region,
I. elongata
is a yellowish-brown
tortoise of moderate size (our specimens up to
33 cm
long) with a domed carapace and pinkishred markings on the face during breeding season (
Ihlow et al. 2016
).
Habitat.
Radio-tracked tortoises were found to utilize both mature and degraded forest.
Remarks.
Sightings of this species were rare in LNP due to pressure from local hunters for domestic consumption. Villagers in LNP told us that in the 1990s hunters could find seven or eight of these tortoises in a single day, while now they go months without seeing one. Due to an educational outreach project undertaken by the Creative Conservation Alliance, two tortoises were brought to our staff by villagers. These then had radio-transmitters af- fixed to their shells and were released back into the wild and tracked for the next year. Eight non-resident tor- toises, rescued from hunters in Bandarban District, were also affixed with transmitters and released into LNP as a pilot relocation study. Additional data from these radiotracking studies will be published in an upcoming paper.
Squamata
Gekkonidae