SIEBENROCKIELLA CRASSICOLUS (Black Marsh Turtle). FIRE SCARS. Occurrence of fire scars on the shells of turtles is best described for the North American box turtle (Terrapene carolina) (Dodd et al, 1997. Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 5:66-72; Rose 1986. Southwest. Nat. 31:131-134; Smith 1958. Turtox News 36:234-237). Scars often result from the turtle being exposed to fire while partially buried in terrestrial habitats with the mid-dorsal and posterior areas of the carapace burned most frequently. Siebenrockiella crassicollis has been described as a bottomwalking aquatic turtle that inhabits deep ponds, marshes, sluggish streams, and swamps (Ernst and Barbour 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington, D.C.; Iskandar 2000. Turtles and Crocodiles of Insular Southeast Asia and New Guinea. PALMedia Citra. Bandung, Indonesia; Liat and Das 1999. Turtles of Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia. Nat. Hist. Publ. (Borneo), Sabah, Malaysia). It is known to walk on land, presumably during movements between aquatic habitats (Liat and Das, op. cit.). We report here on observations of fire scars in a sample of S. crassicollis that suggests heretofore unrecognized terrestrial activity.
A
large sample of S. crassicollis was among the 7500 turtles putatively
from Malaysia that were confiscated by Hong Kong 2 8 ., 8 authorities
on 11 December 200 1. Approximately 3200 of the 16 species of turtles
were shipped to the United States in January 2002 for processing and distribution
to rescue centers, zoos, veterinarians, and university research programs
(Hudson and Buhlmann 2002. Turtle and Tortoise Newslett. 6:11-14). A total
of 1002 S. crassicollis was received in three shipments (Ades and Crow
2002. Turtle and Tortoise Newslett. 6:2-7). All had apparently been harvested
aquatically, as some had fish hooks in their mouths or necks. During the
triage, marking, and measuring process we discovered that several of these
turtles were scarred on the carapace in various configurations with varying
amounts of the keratin apparently removed by fire. A total of 45 S.
crassicollis had such scars (4.49% of the total sample). Eighteen
were males (129-202 mm carapace length) and 27 were females (137-199 mm
CL); all were adults. In the data set available, two (both females) had
scars on > 50% of the carapace, 13 (5 males, 8 females) had scars on
21-50% of the shell, and 19 (8 males, 11 females) had one or more smaller
areas burned away. Fourteen turtles (6 males, 8 females) were burned on
the dorsum of the carapace, 4 on the left side (2 each), 6 on the right
side (3 each), and 14 on the rear of the carapace (5 males, 9 females).
None of the fire scars was fresh and all were healed, indicating that
each turtle survived its burns. Our interpretation of these scars as being
derived from fire damage is consistent with those seen in other species
such as Terrapene carolina (e.g., Dodd et al. 1997, op. cit.).
The existence of extensive fire scars on the carapaces of these bottom
dwelling aquatic turtles (Ernst and Barbour, op. cit.) suggests that some
individuals spent time buried terrestrially in habitats consisting of
leaf litter or dead grass, possibly during times of the year when local
residents set fIfeS to grasslands and the
grass understory in open forests; such fires are set annually (often in
the spring) in parts of Asia to help generate fresh vegetative re- growth
(KAB and JCM, pers. obs.). Our observations suggest that populations of
S. crassicollis may inhabit seasonally-ponded wetlands with fluctuating
hydrologies, but the reasons for apresumed
terrestrial phase in the life history of S. crassicollis are
not known. Investigation into this aspect of their behavior may reveal
patterns of terrestrial habitat use heretofore unrecognizedby chelonian
biologists.
SREL Reprint #2878
Mitchell, J. C., T. D. Tuberville and K. A. Buhlmann. 2005. Siebenrockiella crassicollis (Black Marsh Turtle). Fire scars. Herpetological Review 36:169.
