Yunnan grandis

[markusA]

some years ago I took photos of an unusual Heosemys grandis in a private collection of a friend in Shanghai. According to his dealer the animal was collected in Yunnan, China.
Later some pictures occured in the internet showing a very similiar animal, also said to come from Yunnan.
see pics.

unusual is the light colour of carapace with a pattern of thin radiated lines. the head is mostly yellow or shows big yellow blotches.
Animals from Cambodia or Vietnam do not have such carapace colour in combination with the ray pattern and have usually pink to orange head colouration.

[markusA]

an addition:

in the book of Vetter, Turts and Torts of the world, Asian edition, there are 2 pics showing an animal from Burma with black carapace and thick black radiated pattern on plastron. It is not known from which part of Burma they come.
that would be a third "colour morph" of grandis.

up to date no publications exist about morphological or genetical variation of Heosemys grandis...

[Marnix Hoekstra]

Hi Markus,

This 'Yunnan type' is absolutely new to me - very interesting. I haven't seen this colouring before (at least not this bright). These reports should of course be taken with great caution but they should not be dismissed out of hand.
Does the 'Yunnan type' have a different plastron pattern too? Do you have photos of the plastron?

The Myanmar type is a bit enigmatic as well. All we know about it seems to come from a single source: Bill McCord.

[markusA]

plastron of "Yunnan form"