Yangtze giant softshell turtle

Yangtze giant softshell turtle
One of the two R. swinhoei of Dong Mo, Son Tay, Vietnam
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Trionychidae
Genus: Rafetus
Species:
R. swinhoei
Binomial name
Rafetus swinhoei
(Gray, 1873)
Yangtze giant softshell turtle range
Synonyms
List
  • Oscaria swinhoei
    Gray, 1873
  • Yuen elegans
    Heude, 1880
  • Yuen leprosus
    Heude, 1880
  • Yuen maculatus
    Heude, 1880
  • Yuen pallens
    Heude, 1880
  • Yuen viridis
    Heude, 1880
  • Trionyx swinhonis
    Boulenger, 1889
  • Pelodiscus swinhoei
    Baur, 1893
  • Trionyx swinhoei
    Siebenrock, 1902
  • Amyda swinhoei
    Mertens, L. Müller & Rust, 1934
  • Pelochelys taihuensis
    Zhang, 1984
  • Trionyx liupani
    Tao, 1986
  • Rafetus swinhoei
    Meylan, 1987
  • Pelochelys maculatus
    Zhao, 1997
  • Pelochlys maculatus
    — Zhao, 1997
  • Rafetus leloii
    Hà Dình Dúc, 2000
    (nomen nudum)
  • Rafetus hoankiemensis
    Devaux, 2001
    (nomen nudum)

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), also commonly known as the Red River giant softshell turtle, the Shanghai softshell turtle, the speckled softshell turtle, and Swinhoe's softshell turtle, is a critically endangered species of turtle in the family Trionychidae. It is regarded as one of the largest living freshwater turtle species. Native to eastern and southern China and northern Vietnam, the species has a known population of only two or three individuals, and the absence of fertile females has rendered it functionally extinct.