NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Chinese stone slab soft-shelled turtle [shipian]
Pelodiscus axenaria (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Hunan softshell turtle (Pelodiscus axenaria) is a species of turtle in the family Trionychidae, the softshells. It is endemic to China, where it occurs in Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi provinces. It is found in Taoyuan, Pingjiang, Rucheng, Lingling, and Shaoyang counties of Hunan province (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991).
The meaning of the epithet "axenaria" is unknown; Gong et al. (2022) suggested that it might be a misspelling of arenaria, which means "of sand" in Latin.
Wikipedia contributors, Hunan softshell turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T13:23:32.982022+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pelodiscus axenaria (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991)
- Name authority
- (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991)
- Common name
- Chinese stone slab soft-shelled turtle [shipian]
- 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 axenaria (Zhou, Zhang & Fang, 1991)
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 Soft-shelled TurtlePelodiscus sinensis (Wiegmann, 1835) | 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.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Trionyx axenaria Zhou et al., 1991 Zhou et al., 1991 | synonym |
| Pelodiscus shipian Gong, Fritz, Vamberger, Gao & Farkas, 2022 Gong, Fritz, Vamberger, Gao & Farkas, 2022 | ambiguous synonym |
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=axenaria 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:76D5B. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.