Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2026 | 18(9): 29769–29771
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10364.18.9.29769-29771
#10364 | Received 29 January 2026 | Final received 05 July 2026| Finally
accepted 26 August 2026
New record of the Indian Roofed
Turtle Pangshura tecta (Gray, 1831) (Reptilia: Testudines: Geoemydidae)
from Jaisamand Lake, Rajasthan, India
Vijay Kumar Koli 1 , Nirbhay Singh Chouhan 2
, Kamal Vaishnav 3 & Rakesh Kumar 4
1–4 Wildlife Research Laboratory,
Department of Zoology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University,
Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001, India.
1 vijaykoli87@yahoo.in
(corresponding author), 2 nschouhan1999@gmail.com, 3 kvkamal247@gmail.com,
4 rakeshkheta@gmail.com
Editor: S.R. Ganesh, Kalinga Foundation, Agumbe, India. Date
of publication: 26 September 2026 (online & print)
Citation: Koli, V.K., N.S. Chouhan, K. Vaishnav & R. Kumar (2026). New record of
the Indian Roofed Turtle Pangshura tecta
(Gray, 1831) (Reptilia:
Testudines: Geoemydidae) from Jaisamand
Lake, Rajasthan, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 18(9):
29769–29771. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10364.18.9.29769-29771
Copyright: © Koli et al. 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: This work was financially supported by Anusandhan National
Research Foundation (ANRF), New Delhi (File no. EEQ/2023/000026).
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We thank to Dr. Satish Kumar Sharma, Retd. ACF, Forest Department, Udaipur division, Govt. of Rajasthan for help in identification of the species.
Abstract: The Indian Roofed Turtle Pangshura tecta (Gray, 1831) is a vulnerable
freshwater geoemydid with a fragmented and poorly
documented distribution in Rajasthan, India. Here, a recent observation of a P.
tecta is reported from near Jaisamand Lake,
Udaipur District, based on diagnostic morphological characters and colouration patterns. This record represents a significant
and possibly new confirmed contemporary occurrence of P. tecta from
southern Rajasthan in over three decades. The finding suggests the continued
persistence of P. tecta in the region and highlights the urgent need for
targeted surveys to assess its distribution, habitat use, and conservation
status in southern Rajasthan.
Keywords: Biodiversity monitoring, citizen
science, conservation monitoring, conservation status, freshwater chelonians,
freshwater geoemydid, range extension, range record,
re-sighting, wetland biodiversity.
The Indian Roofed Turtle Pangshura tecta (Gray, 1831) is a small
freshwater turtle of the family Geoemydidae,
characterized by a distinctly elevated, roof-shaped carapace bearing a prominent median keel on the
vertebral scutes, a pointed snout, and conspicuous colouration patterns on the head and neck (Hanfee 1999). The species is native to the major lowland
river systems of southern Asia and is distributed across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
and Nepal (Ahmed et al. 2021). It inhabits rivers, oxbow lakes, floodplain
wetlands, and associated lentic habitats within the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus,
Mahanadi, and their tributaries, with confirmed records from sites such as Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve,
Nepal (Das 1991; Iverson 1992; Ahmed et al. 2021). The species is currently
assessed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, primarily
due to population declines resulting from exploitation for food, illegal trade
for the pet market, and the use of dried plastron in traditional Chinese
medicine (Choudhury & Bhupathy 1993; Ahmed et al.
2021). In India, P. tecta is afforded the highest level of legal
protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,
prohibiting its capture, trade, and exploitation.
Records of the Indian Roofed Turtle from Rajasthan are
extremely scarce (Bhupathy & Mathur 2013). Over
the past three decades, the only confirmed record from the state is from Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur
(Hanfee 1999; Bhupathy
& Mathur 2013). Subsequently, Johnson et al. (2021) reported a single
individual between the Kota barrage and the Jawahar Sagar
dam. Historical accounts further suggest that the species was once abundant in
the lakes (i.e., Fatehsagar and Pichola
lakes) of Udaipur city prior to 1992 (S.K. Sharma pers. comm. 29 December 2025; Sharma 2014).
More recently, the species was reported from Pichola
Lake in 2025, located approximately 45 km north (aerial distance) of the
present observation site. In the southern direction, Ahmedabad (Gujarat State)
represents the nearest available distribution record, approximately 196 km away
(aerial distance) (iNaturalist 2026; India
Biodiversity Portal 2026). Additional recent observations from several localities
within Rajasthan have also been uploaded through citizen-science platforms
during the last few years (iNaturalist 2026). Here,
we report a new sighting of Pangshura tecta
based on a turtle sighted in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Observation
On 28 December 2025, at approximately 0700 h, a
slow-moving juvenile turtle (Image 1) was sighted along the roadside near the
edge of Jaisamand Lake (24.269° N, 73.955° E;
elevation 305 m; Image 2) in Udaipur District, Rajasthan.
The individual exhibited a dark olive to blackish head
with bright yellow to orange longitudinal stripes extending from the snout
along the sides of the head and neck (Images 1A&B). A conspicuous
crescent-shaped orange post-orbital blotch was present behind each eye. The
carapace was olive to olive-brown with a distinct and well-developed median
keel (Images 1B&C), while the plastron was yellow to orange with irregular
dark brown blotches (Fig. 1d). Morphometric measurements recorded were:
straight carapace length = 6.7 cm, straight carapace width = 5.4 cm, plastron
length = 6.2 cm, and plastron width = 3.2 cm.
Discussion
Based on diagnostic morphological characters and colouration patterns, the specimen was identified as Pangshura tecta. Following available
literature (Hossain et al. 2013), the identification was subsequently confirmed
by Dr. Satish Kumar Sharma (pers. comm. 29 December 2025). Jaisamand
Lake (also known as Dhebar Lake), Asia’s
second-largest artificial lake (~36 km2), is subject to intensive
tourism and fishing activities and serves as a major source of water supply for
Udaipur City and surrounding areas. The lake receives water from four main
rivers namely Gomti, Jhamari, Rooparel,
and Bagaar; it also supports diverse aquatic biota (Balai et al. 2020). The occurrence of the turtle on the
roadside suggests that the individual may have been accidentally captured in
fishing gear and subsequently released, or that it had moved onto land for
basking or dispersal. This species is frequently kept as a pet across India,
even in cities not in its known distribution range (Choudhury & Bhupathy 1993). Release of a pet turtle into the Jaisamand Lake is also a possibility which cannot be
discounted.
Although the broader IUCN distribution range of P.
tecta marginally overlaps with the eastern and southern fringes of
Rajasthan (Ahmed et al. 2021), confirmed locality records from these regions
remain limited. Published accounts indicate that records of P. tecta
from Rajasthan are extremely limited and fragmented, with most known
occurrences concentrated in eastern parts of the state and adjoining river
systems (Bhupathy & Mathur 2013). Therefore, a
new record from Jaisamand Lake would represent an
important range extension into southern Rajasthan and improve current
understanding of the species’ regional distribution. Considering the relative
number of seasonal and perennial wetlands in southern Rajasthan, as well as the
conservation perspective, targeted species-specific surveys are urgently
required to assess the current distribution, habitat associations, and
population status of P. tecta across the state.
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