Check List 21(2): 475-479, doi: 10.15560/21.2.475

First offshore island record of Mauremys annamensis (Siebenrock, 1903) (Testudines, Geoemydidae) in Vietnam

Luan Thanh Nguyen^‡, Tuyet-Dzung Thi Tran^‡, Sanh Cong Phan^§, Thomas Ziegler^|¶, Minh Le^#¤, Timothy E. M. McCormack^‡

‡ Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation, Hanoi, Vietnam§ Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area, Hoi An, Vietnam| University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany¶ AG Zoologischer Garten Köln, Cologne, Germany# Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam¤ American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States of America

Corresponding author: Luan Thanh Nguyen ( nguyenluanbio@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Jesse Grismer

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Nguyen LT, Tran T-DT, Phan SC, Ziegler T, Le M, McCormack TEM (2025) First offshore island record of Mauremys annamensis (Siebenrock, 1903) (Testudines, Geoemydidae) in Vietnam. Check List 21(2): 475-479. https://doi.org/10.15560/21.2.475

Abstract

We report the first record of the Critically Endangered Vietnamese Pond Turtle, Mauremys annamensis (Siebenrock, 1903), from the Cu Lao Cham Archipelago, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, based on two individuals observed in 2015 and 2022. This discovery extends the species’ distribution to an offshore island, approximately 17 km from the mainland in Hoi An City, highlighting its potential adaptability and urgent conservation needs.

Keywords

Cu Lao Cham Archipelago, distribution record, freshwater turtle, conservation, Quang Nam Province