Tortoises

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The brook turtles (Mauremys) are a genus of Old World swamp turtles native to various species from the Mediterranean to East Asia and Japan. The specific species belonging to this genus have not yet been definitively clarified. The Annam turtle and the Yellow marsh turtle, both native to Asia, are sometimes placed in the genus Asian water turtles (Cathaiemys).

The brook turtles often reside in standing waters and on land near the waters, but they have their German name from their occurrence in rather shallow, slowly flowing streams. You can swim well.

Features
The species of brook turtles grow to a maximum of between 18 cm and 21 cm in size (females), the males are smaller and grow to between 11 cm and 13.5 cm in size.

Dissemination
In the western Mediterranean, the Moorish creek turtle (Mauremys leprosa), also called “Spanish water turtle”, is at home from Portugal and Spain via North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya) to West Africa (Senegal and Niger).

The West Caspian turtle (Mauremys rivulata) formerly considered a subspecies of the Caspian brook turtle (Mauremys caspica), lives in the area of the eastern Mediterranean countries from southeastern Europe and Greece via southern and western Turkey to Lebanon as well as Israel and Syria. You can also find them on the islands of Cyprus and Crete.

Further east, and in Inner Anatolia (north of the Taurus Mountains), joins the distribution area of the Caspian brook turtle. It includes the southwestern parts of the former Soviet Union between Caucasus and Caspian Sea via central and eastern Turkey to Iran.

The Japanese marsh turtle (Mauremys japonica), inhabits the main Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikodu and Kyushu with some small islands in front of it.

Systematic classification
The genus of brook turtles was for a long time considered a model for an East-West split due to glacial extinctions. According to this view, the Pleistocene Ice Age would have left a gap in the range between Mediterranean species and East Asian sister species. However, modern molecular genetic methods showed that the splitting must have occurred much earlier. It also turned out that the genus is paraphyletic, since the East Asian turtle genus Chinemys and Ocadia, which were previously assigned to another subfamily of the Geoemydidae, are also to be placed in the relatives of the brook turtles. The sister genus of this group are the hinged turtles (cuora).

That the crossing barriers are not high even between these species classified as different genera was proven by the description of two apparently new Mauremys species by the Americans Pritchard and Iverson. They had the turtles on chinesi