PLEASE HELP IDENTIFY

[Musa Nathan]

Please kindly help me identify this tortoise....

 

[hollygaucas]

Please kindly help me identify this tortoise....View attachment 226574View attachment 226575View attachment 226576View attachment 226577View attachment 226578

Where do you approximately live?

 

[Musa Nathan]

Where do you approximately live?

In Zimbabwe...Africa..

 

[hollygaucas]

In Zimbabwe...Africa..

Do you have a picture with the tortoises head out, if not is it possible that you could?

 

[Musa Nathan]

Do you have a picture with the tortoises head out, if not is it possible that you could?

No...very shy....

 

[hatzego]

This is a box turtle of some kind. You can tell by the way his plastron folds up and fully encloses his head into his shell. Not sure what kind of box turtles are native to Zimbabwe, but that’s what I think it is

 

[Yvonne G]

It looks like one of the African side neck turtles. This animal lives in the water. When he pulls in his head, does it go to the side rather than straight in?

 

[Chizbad]

Looks a ton like a side neck from those pics and regarding your location

 

[hollygaucas]

It looks like one of the African side neck turtles. This animal lives in the water. When he pulls in his head, does it go to the side rather than straight in?

Is the turtle not too big to be an African side neck?

 

[Markw84]

That certainly looks like a Pelusios sinuatus The Serrated Hinged Terrapin

 

[Musa Nathan]

I have found it...it's an African MUD Turtle...either Pelusios Castaneus or Pelusios Subniger or Pelusios Bechuanicus

 

[Markw84]

I have found it...it's an African MUD Turtle...either Pelusios Castaneus or Pelusios Subniger or Pelusios Bechuanicus

I'm sticking with Pelusios sinuatus. It is a larger species of the Pelusios and found in Zimbabwe where it is fairly common.
P. castaneus is not found in Zimbabwe and is much smaller - does not reach the size of the turtle in this photo.
P. bechuanicus is not found in Zimbabwe with its range further west. They are normally black not brown like P. sinuatus. It is large enough, but has a smooth margin while this has the characteristic wavy margin of P. sinuatus.
P. subniger is found in Zimbabwe, but does not get anywhere near as large as this one in the photo.

 

[Musa Nathan]

I'm sticking with Pelusios sinuatus. It is a larger species of the Pelusios and found in Zimbabwe where it is fairly common.
P. castaneus is not found in Zimbabwe and is much smaller - does not reach the size of the turtle in this photo.
P. bechuanicus is not found in Zimbabwe with its range further west. They are normally black not brown like P. sinuatus. It is large enough, but has a smooth margin while this has the characteristic wavy margin of P. sinuatus.
P. subniger is found in Zimbabwe, but does not get anywhere near as large as this one in the photo.

I thought the sinuatus is only found in Asia...Bechuanicus is found in Zimbabwe...

 

[Markw84]

I thought the sinuatus is only found in Asia...Bechuanicus is found in Zimbabwe...

Yes, P. bechuanicus is found in Zimbabwe, but only in the very extreme western tip. The bulk of it's range is in Botswana, Zambia, and Namibia.
P. sinuatus is found throughout a good portion of Western Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. It is quite common throughout most of Zimbabwe except the very central part. It is not found in Asia. All Pelusios are African only. (including one from the Seychelles)

 

[cdmay]

P. sinuatus

 

[cdmay]

P. sinuatus

Sorry, I should offer my reasons for this identification:
The overall size, the shape of the rear marginal scutes, and especially the distinct pattern of the plastron all make the I.D. easy and point to it being a Pelusios sinuatus.
Although P. bechuanicus does get to be pretty big (for a Pelusios), that species has a mostly all black plastron.