Southern Vietnamese Box Turtle

Southern Vietnamese Box Turtle (Cuora picturata) is a reptile recorded for Vietnam in the project inventory. Its supporting occurrence note is “Expert range list”. The accepted scientific name is retained because regional taxonomy and species boundaries can change, while similar-looking taxa may require detailed morphology or genetic evidence for reliable separation. This profile therefore distinguishes the recorded identity and occurrence from broader biological context instead of inventing unsupported locality, size, diet or breeding details (project species data; Reptile Database taxonomy).

Cuora box turtles are terrestrial or semi-aquatic Asian turtles with a hinged plastron that can close the shell to varying degrees. They forage slowly through forest floor, wetland margins or shallow water for fruits, vegetation and small animals, depending on species. Closely related forms can hybridize and may be difficult to identify. These are genus-level notes rather than Vietnam-specific observations of this record, so exact size, habitat, diet and clutch figures are omitted (general Cuora account; Reptile Database).