Bourret's box turtle

Bourret's box turtle (Cuora bourreti), also known commonly as the central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle and the Indochinese box turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia.

Geographic range
C. bourreti is found in central Vietnam and adjacent Laos.

Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of C. bourreti is forest, at altitudes of 300 - 1,800 m.

Description
C. bourreti may attain a straight-line carapace length of 20 cm. Adult females and adult males are about the same size. Hatchlings have a straight-line carapace length of 4.5 - 5.0 cm.

Taxonomy
Although Stuart and Parham (2004) argued that C. bourreti was quite distinct, possibly enough to justify its elevation to a full species, osteologic studies have shown that it probably better remains as a subspecies of C. galbinifrons. This is further substantiated by the finding of intergradation zones in north-central Vietnam, where hybrid populations of C. g. galbinifrons and C. g. bourreti are known to exist.

Etymology
C. bourreti is named in honor of French herpetologist René Léon Bourret.

In captivity
The Vietnamese press has reported successful breeding of C. bourreti at a turtle farm in Dak Lak, Vietnam by a pharmacist who studied in France.

Two Bourret's box turtles hatched at the National Zoo in the United States on 12 June 2017.