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Aquatic feeding in a terrestrial turtle: a functional-morphological study of the feeding apparatus in the Indochinese box turtle Cuora galbinifrons (Testudines, Geoemydidae)

Zoomorphology volume 129, pages 111–119 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

The Indochinese box turtle Cuora galbinifrons is regarded as a purely terrestrial species, but our results demonstrate that it can feed both on land and in water. The inverse relationship between the relative development of the hyoid apparatus and the tongue found in the most investigated chelonians is not valid in the Indochinese box turtle. Our morphological analysis of the feeding apparatus reveals that the palate shape and the design of the tongue are consistent with terrestrial feeders, but the construction of the hyoid complex is more characteristic of aquatic feeders. Previous studies have demonstrated that tongue enlargement negatively impacts the capacity of the turtles to suction feed. The present study focuses on the aquatic intraoral prey transport kinematic patterns. Our analysis is based on high-speed films with 250 fr/s and high-speed cineradiography with 50 fr/s. The aquatic intraoral food transport mechanisms differ depending on prey size: small items are transported predominantly by “inertial suction”, whereas larger items are moved by the tongue—normally a clear terrestrial strategy. As the genus Cuora is ancestrally aquatic, the use of lingual food transport in the aquatic environment is presumably an aberrant modus typical only for the most terrestrial among the Asian box turtles.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful for the material support by Richard Gemel, NHM Wien. Alexander Rabanser (Univ. Vienna) is acknowledged for statistical advices. Furthermore, we would like to thank Rebecca German and Kenneth Kardong for discussing and commenting on our work. Four anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for helpful comments on the manuscript. Michael Stachowitsch improved our English. This study was supported by the FWF 20094-B17 Austrian research grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Nikolay Natchev, Patrick Lemell, Egon Heiss, Christian Beisser & Josef Weisgram

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  1. Nikolay Natchev
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  2. Patrick Lemell
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  3. Egon Heiss
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  4. Christian Beisser
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  5. Josef Weisgram
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Correspondence to Josef Weisgram.

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Communicated by T. Bartolomaeus.

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Natchev, N., Lemell, P., Heiss, E. et al. Aquatic feeding in a terrestrial turtle: a functional-morphological study of the feeding apparatus in the Indochinese box turtle Cuora galbinifrons (Testudines, Geoemydidae). Zoomorphology 129, 111–119 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-010-0104-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-010-0104-x

Keywords

  • Turtle
  • Feeding
  • Kinematics
  • Morphology
  • Cuora galbinifrons