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Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 10, pp. 110-113

Trade Data and Some Comments On the Distribution ofMauremys annamensis (Siebenrock, 1903)
MINH LE1,*, THANG HOANG2, AND DUC LE3
1American Museum of Natural History, Department of Herpetology,

Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024
219th Le Thanh Tong St., Hanoi, Vietnam
3WWF Indochina Programme, 53-Tran Phu St., Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam; IPO Box 151, Hanoi, Vietnam* E-mail: minhl@amnh.org
Abstract. - This trade survey of Annam Pond Turtle reveals that this species is likely to have larger distribution thanpreviously thought. The records in the trade in Quy Nhon and Ho Chi Minh City suggest its range could extend muchfurther south. In addition, given the one way south-north trade route, the absence of Mauremys mutica in the tradesouth of Hai Van Pass and the reported absence of M. annamensis in the trade north of the Pass support the hypothesis that the Pass is the natural barrier for the two species ranges. This hypothesis combined with the long existenceof the Pass might indicate that the speciation between the two species happened when their ancestors dispersed acrossthe Pass, and were subsequently isolated, by the means of rafting or walking through narrow land strip emerged during the low sea level period. In terms of conservation, M. annamensis has become much rarer even in the trade, suggesting immediate conservation measures to protect it.
Key words. - Mauremys annamensis, Bataguridae, Hai Van Pass, Truong Son Range, distribution, biogeography.
Distribution of Mauremys annamensis. - The Annam
Pond Turtle, Mauremys annamensis, was first describedby Siebenrock in 1903 based on a specimen collectedfrom Phuc Son or Phuoc Son (15° 33' 00'' N; 108° 04'00'' E) (southwest of Tourane, now known as the city ofDa Nang) in Central Vietnam. Another specimen wascollected by Bourret from Fai Fo (Hoi An), an ancient
city about 50 km from Da Nang (Bourret, 1941). Since
then, it seems that little effort has been made to record
the distribution of this species in the wild. Iverson(1992) and Iverson et al. (1999) cite only the above
records from Bourret for their maps of global turtle distribution.
According to Bourret (1941), this species was very
abundant in the marshes and slow-moving water bodies
in the lowland areas of the cities of Hoi An and DaNang. Both Hoi An and Da Nang, however, are now
very populated cities surrounded by rice paddies, which
are unlikely to be suitable habitats for this species. Thisis because the intensive use of chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, in rice paddies through out Vietnam
makes it difficult for turtles to survive in this environment.
To better understand its distribution, we did a 6-day
trade survey in the August of 1996. The survey covered
three cities, namely Quy Nhon (13° 46’ 00” N; 109° 14’00” E), Da Nang, and Hue (16° 28' 00'' N; 107° 36' 00''E), and their surrounding areas. We interviewed turtle
dealers at the collecting points, where turtles werebought from collectors and awaited to be shifted to© 2004 by Asiatic Herpetological ResearchChina. We used the book Turtles of the World (Ernst andBarbour, 1989) for identification key. In addition, since
the initial purpose of the survey is to determine the tradestatus of M. annamensis, we identified, but did notrecord the availability of other turtle species in the collecting points.
We observed that this species was still common in
the trade in Quy Nhon and Da Nang. In Quy Nhon andits outskirt, we visited three collecting points. In the firstone, we identified 2 adult M. annamensis. In the othertwo collecting points, we found 3 and 4 juveniles,respectively. In Da Nang and its surrounding areas, wevisited four sites with three to four specimens in eachsites. They were all young and juvenile turtles. From theinterviews with local people in Quy Nhon and Da Nang,
it was apparent that this species could well survive in thehuman-modified environment, such as lakes and fishponds, if there were no collecting activities by local people. Local trade dealers and collectors, encountered incollecting points in Quy Nhon and Da Nang, suggested
that this species still existed in the water bodies in thenearby region. Le and Trinh (2001) also indicated thatthe species could occur in Tra My, Tien Phuoc, andprobably Hiep Duc Districts, Quang Nam Province.
The occurrence of M. annamensis in Quy Nhon isvery interesting since this species had been believed tohave very restricted distribution. More remarkably, Leand Broad (1995) reported that M. annamensis evenextended far south to Ca Mau, Minh Hai Province inhabiting Melaleuca forests (around 9° 29' 00'' N; 105° 20'

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Figure 1. Topographic map of Vietnam.

00'' E;) situated at the southern tip of Vietnam. It is possible that Le and Broad misidentified this species in theirsurvey (Jenkins, 1995). However, Peter Paul van Dijk,
Le Trong Dat, and Douglas Hendrie on May 30, 2000
found this species in Ben Chuong Duong Street shops inHo Chi Minh City (Hendrie, 2000a). This evidence combined with the one-way trafficking of turtles (from southto north) (Le and Broad, 1995) indicates that M. annamensis may have much wider distribution than previously thought.
This hypothesis is also supported by Le and Trinh(2001). Their interviews with local dealers, in May
2001, in Quang Nam Province revealed that one dealerin Thang Binh District bought this species from the shipments transported from the south. Le and Trinh (2001)
also suggested that M. annamensis is naturally distributed in Tra My, Tien Phuoc, and probably Hiep Duc
Districts, Quang Nam Province. These authors also indicated an interesting fact that turtle hunters only sell theiranimals to the local dealers. This manner of trade2004

demonstrates that the local trade data can be informativein determining the limit of the natural ranges of somespecies.
It is noted that we did not encounter any M. mutica
in the areas in Quy Nhon and Da Nang. Le and Trinh(2001) also did not find any M. mutica in their trade
investigation, which covered seven districts and one
town in Quang Nam Province, and the city of Da Nang.
According the pattern of turtle trade in Vietnam plottedby Le and Broad (1995), turtles have been collectedfrom the south and transported to the north. They are
finally destined in the border between and Vietnam andChina, where they are traded in an enormous volume.
The one-way south north trafficking leads to the conclusion that M. mutica does not occur in Da Nang, locatedin the southern side of Hai Van Pass, or southern areasof the city.
In the survey, we found no evidence for M. annamensis distributed in the northern side of the Hai VanPass. Interviews with turtle dealers from two collecting
points in the city of Hue (north of Hai Van Pass)revealed that this species was only transported to the cityfrom the south and there was no record of this species inthe surrounding areas. It is also interesting that the dealers called this species Rua Dep Nam (Beautiful SouthernTurtle) as compared to Rua Dep Bac (Beautiful NorthernTurtle), here referred to Mauremys mutica. According tothem, M. mutica came only from areas north of Hai VanPass. In the house of a trader in Hue, we observed about
20 M. mutica from 1 to 2 kg, but no M. annmensis. In theother site, we did not find any M. mutica or M. annamensis.
Given the fact that Hue and Da Nang is only 100 kmapart, it is very likely that Hai Van Pass (at around 16°N)
forms the natural boundary of these two species since
the Pass stands in between two cities. Records from previous studies also support this hypothesis (Iverson,1992; Nguyen and Ho, 1996). Thus, the mountain range,
which cuts through the country, is most certainly thenorthern boundary of M. annamensis’ range and southern boundary of M. mutica’s range. Because they are thelowland inhabitants, the Pass (1712m above sea level atthe summit) seems to be a significant barrier.
Some studies have suggested that the Pass is theborder between two zoological regions, Northern
Central Vietnam (Northern Truong Son) and CentralVietnam (Central Truong Son) for such groups as rodent,bird, fish, and lizard (Bobrov, 1993; Dao, 1978, Cao,1989). In addition, Fooden (1996) showed in Fig1i thatthe distribution two closely related gibbon taxa,Hylobates gabriellae siki and H. gabriellae gabriellae,
has been separated by the Pass. Even though primate ismore likely to possess higher dispersal ability, the barrier seems significant enough to block their expansion. In

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fact, the Truong Son Mountain Range in general has
established dispersal barriers for Cuora galbinifronsspecies complex (Stuart and Parham, 2004).
Hai Van Pass is a part of Truong Son Mountain
Range (Annamite Mountains), which runs throughout
most of the country’s length. The Pass meets the South
China Sea and effectively divides the country into two
different sections. It is formed by aluminous granite, andprobably emerged about 250 Mya in the early Triassic(Lepvrier et al., 1997). If the Pass is actually the natural boundary of these two species’ ranges, it can be
hypothesized that the speciation between M. annamensisand M. mutica was occurred when their ancestors dispersed across the Hai Van Pass and then were subsequently isolated. Since these turtles are good swimmers,
one possible scenario is that they rafted on the sea to getto the other side of the Pass. Another possibility is thatthey traveled south through a narrow land belt exposed
during the low sea level period. According to Prenticeand Denton (1988), before from 6 Mya to 0.9 Mya thesea level fluctuated at an average of 70m below the present sea level. At this level, a few kilometers of the continental shelf could be opened to the east of the Pass(Voris, 2000) and well served as a travel route for theseturtles. However, these hypotheses are very preliminary
and, therefore, should be carefully tested in a much morecomprehensive study in the future.

Broad, 1995; Le and Trinh, 2001; and this survey), cangenerate substantial interests among poor local people.
In our survey in 1996, this species was still pretty common in the trade. My personal observation in Dong
Xuan market, Hanoi, in 1998 also confirmed the commonness of this species. More recently, Hendrie (2000b)
reported that the occurrence of this species in turtle confiscated shipments is less frequent compared to the previous years. Le and Trinh (2001) reported that thisspecies was very rare in the trade compared to otherspecies – only second to Golden Turtle (Cuora trifasciata). In fact, they only encountered only one juvenile in
the whole period of the survey. Thus, this species should
be given the highest priority in conservation programs in
the near future.

Trend in the trade of M. annamensis. - In recent years,turtles in the Southeast Asian region, especially inVietnam, have been critically threatened by the tradewith China. The trade has been driven by the Chinese
long tradition of using turtles as food and medicines.
Many species might go extinct in very near future unlessurgent protection measures are implemented (van Dijk,2000; Hendrie, 2000). In Vietnam, species such as
Cuora trifasciata, believed to be able to cure cancer, isat considerable risk due to its significant economic value(about 1000 USD per individual or even more (Lovich etal., 2000; Le and Trinh, 2001)). For M. annamensis, inaddition to the general demand from China, there arealso interests in keeping them as pets in countries suchas the U.S. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service
indicated that from 1996 to 1999 small numbers were
imported to the U.S. from Vietnam (Consideration ofProposals for Amendment of Appendices I and II).
Weissgold (2002) even maintained that the imports
increased during 1999-2001. Due to the risk posed by
the trade and habitat destruction, this species has been
listed in the Appendix II and in the critically endangered
category by CITES and IUCN, respectively.
It is clear that the number of M. annamensis has
declined dramatically in recent years. The market valueof this species, approximately $5 to $7 per kg (Le andLiterature Cited

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Drs. Ross Kiester and James
Juvik for their support of the field trip. Bryan Stuart
encouraged and convinced ML that the information inthis paper is important. Comments from two anonymous
reviewers and Jim Parham help improve the paper. ML
is supported by a NASA grant (No. NAG5-8543) to theCenter for Biodiversityand Conservation at theAmerican Museum of Natural History and a Columbia
University/CERC Faculty Fellowship.

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