NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle
Pelodiscus sinensis (Wiegmann, 1835)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Chinese Softshell Turtle is a softshell turtle that is found in China and Taiwan, with some in a wide range of other Asian countries, as well as Spain, Brazil and Hawaii. The Chinese softshell turtle is a vulnerable species, threatened by habitat loss and collection for food such as turtle soup. Millions are now farmed, especially in China, to support the food industry, and it is the world's economically most important turtle.
Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) is a species of softshell turtle that is native to mainland China (Inner Mongolia to Guangxi, including Hong Kong) and Taiwan, with records of escapees—some of which have established introduced populations—in a wide range of other Asian countries, as well as Spain, Brazil and Hawaii.
Populations native to Northeast China, Russia, Korea and Japan were formerly included in this species, but are now regarded as separate as the northern Chinese softshell turtle (P. maackii). Furthermore, localized populations in Guangxi and Hunan (where the Chinese softshell turtle also is present), as well as Vietnam, are recognized as the lesser Chinese softshell turtle (P. parviformis) and Hunan softshell turtle (P. axenaria).
The Chinese softshell turtle is a vulnerable species, threatened by disease, habitat loss, and collection for food such as turtle soup. Additionally, millions are now farmed, especially in China, to support the food industry, and it is the world's most economically important turtle.
Wikipedia contributors, Chinese softshell turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:56:13.710878+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pelodiscus sinensis (Wiegmann, 1835)
- Name authority
- (Wiegmann, 1835)
- Common name
- Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- Family
- Trionychidae
- Genus
- Pelodiscus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
- suborderCryptodira
- superfamilyTrionychoidea
- familyTrionychidae
- genusPelodiscus
- speciesPelodiscus sinensis (Wiegmann, 1835)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pelodiscus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Pelodiscus maackii (Brandt, 1858) | TrionychidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pelodiscus parviformis Tang, 1997 | TrionychidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chinese stone slab soft-shelled turtle [shipian]Pelodiscus axenaria (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991) | TrionychidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Huangshan soft-shelled turtlePelodiscus huangshanensis Gong, Peng, Huang, Lin, Huang, Xu, Yang & Nie, 2021 | TrionychidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chinese gray softshell turtlePelodiscus huike Liu, FU, Ma, Zhou, Blanck, Zhou, Xiao & Mo, 2024 | TrionychidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Pelodiscus&species=sinensis 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:76CTF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.