A NEW SPECIES OF CYCLEMYS (TESTUDINES, BATAGURIDAE) FROM SOUTHEAST-ASIA

A new species of batagurid turtle, Cyclemys atripons, is described fro m the mountainous areas of southeastern Thailand and adjacent Cambodia . It differs from other Cyclemys (herein all referred to as C. dentata ) by the unique combination of a head mottled with black dorsally and striped laterally, a nearly immaculate chin, a distinct carapace patte rn, a plastron with no or only a few coarse black rays, a coarsely and densely pigmented bridge, a narrow carapace, a long plastral hindlobe , a wide plastral forelobe, a small gular scute, and a long interhumer al seam length. Discriminant function analysis of 17 morphometric char acters standardized for body size supported the distinctiveness of the new species from Cyclemys dentata, and indicated that other populatio ns of this complex (on Borneo and in China) may also be morphologicall y distinct.