Kinixys cf. belliana Gray, 1863

Conradie, Werner, Bills, Roger & Branch, William R., 2016, The herpetofauna of the Cubango, Cuito, and lower Cuando river catchments of south-eastern Angola, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 126) 10 (2), pp. 6-36 : 27

Kinixys cf. belliana Gray, 1863

Bell’s Hinged Tortoise

Material: SARCA 153810 (13).

Comment: The genus Kinixys has been recently revised ( Kindler et al. 2012), with K. belliana now restricted to coastal Kenya and Somalia, and extending through Burundi to Angola. Kinixys spekii has previously been considered to have a wide distribution in southeast Africa and to range into much of Angola. Ceríaco et al. (2014) assign Capanda material to K. spekii , but this was not confirmed by molecular analysis. The only three Angola specimens sampled in the recent revision of Kinixys ( Kindler et al. 2012) , from Cuemba and Kuito, Bié Province, were all shown to group with East African K. belliana . The current specimen is provisionally assigned to K. belliana , pending further molecular analysis of Angolan material and we caution that the presence of K. spekii in Angola requires confirmation.