THE SOFT-SHELLED TURTLES 

 (Trionychidae) 



The turtles of this group cannot be mistaken for those of any other 

 family. The upper and lower coverings (carapace and plastron) 

 have the consistency of wet leather and cannot be called shell. The 

 neck is very long, and the head is narrow and terminates in a slen- 

 der snout. Keen jaws, which can cut through flesh as readily as 

 those of a Snapping Turtle, are concealed by thin fleshy folds of 

 skin. The broad feet are widely webbed. 



Soft-shelled Turtle (Amyda spinifera) 



Appearance. The leatherlike upper surface of this species has a 

 row of spiny bumps along its front edge. The color of the "shell" 

 is olive or light brown with a broken black line near the margin. 

 A young specimen is a light bright green with numerous brown 

 spots, each encircled with a black line, scattered over its back. 

 Toward the edge these spots become smaller and darker until the 

 outer ones are black dots. The edge of the "shell" of the young 

 turtle is yellow; the lower "shell" is white and fails to cover the 

 posterior part of the body. 



The head of an adult is olive green. On each side of the head and 



[96] 



