Black Soft-shelled Turtle

Open encyclopedia reference

The black softshell turtle or Bostami turtle or Mohan (Nilssonia nigricans), previously placed in genus Aspideretes, is a species of freshwater turtle found in India (Assam, Tripura and West Bengal) and Bangladesh (Chittagong and Sylhet). It was long believed to consist of inbred individuals of the Indian softshell turtle (N. gangetica) or the Indian peacock softshell turtle (N. hurum), but while it is a close relative of the latter, it is a distinct species. In the 1800s, it was believed these turtles were brought from Iran to Chittagong shrine pond by Hazrat Bayezid Bostami. This turtles that he had brought to this pond were treated as sacred and respected by the public. It was also believed by following local tales related to the turtle, about the turtles once being Jinns (a mythological creature in Islam).

Wikipedia contributors, Black softshell turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:18:59.666387+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Nilssonia nigricans (Anderson, 1875)

Name authority

(Anderson, 1875)

Common name

Black Soft-shelled Turtle

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudines

Family

Trionychidae

Genus

Nilssonia

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
9. orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
10. suborderCryptodira
11. superfamilyTrionychoidea
12. familyTrionychidae
13. genusNilssonia
14. speciesNilssonia nigricans (Anderson, 1875)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Nilssonia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 25 records assigned to Trionychidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Nilssonia&species=nigricans Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:47F7V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.