Kinixys erosa (Schweigger, 1812)

Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Morelle, Stephan, Albert, Jean-Louis, Carlino, Piero, Rahola, Nil & Trape, Jean-François, 2019, New reptile records from Lékédi Park and Haut-Ogooué Province, southeastern Gabon, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 174) 13 (1), pp. 143-161 : 144

Kinixys erosa (Schweigger, 1812)

On 9 October 2016 SM photographed a young individual in a savanna area in Lékédi Park ( Fig. 2 ). This constitutes the first record for the park. Within the same Dept., SM also photographed on 18 January 2018 an individual in Bakoumba, from where the species had already been recorded by Maran and Pauwels (2005). This tortoise, evaluated as Data Deficient by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature ( IUCN; see Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996), is a very popular food item in all parts of Gabon, but it seems to cope with it and is the most common and widely distributed chelonian in the country, reported from nearly all national protected areas (Pauwels 2016) .

Figures

Fig. 2. Young Kinixys erosa in Lékédi Park, Haut-Ogooué Prov., southeastern Gabon. Photograph by S. Morelle.