M Zaheer Khan, Amtyaz Safi, Farina Fatima, Syed Ali Ghalib, M Usman Ali Hashmi, Iqbal Saeed Khan, Saima Siddiqui, Afsheen Zehra and Babar Hussain
Keywords: Pakistan, freshwater turtles, distribution, status
Abstract: In the present work, studies on the distribution and status of freshwater turtles were conducted in Charsadda, Peshawar, Nowshera and Dera Ismail Khan Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, and Thatta, Badin, Sanghar and Sukkur districts of Sindh province. Eight species - Lissemys punctata, Pangshura smithii, Pangshura tectum, Chitra indica, Nilssonia gangeticus, Nilssonia hurum, Hardella thurjii, and Geoclemys hamiltonii were recorded. In Sindh, Geoclemys hamiltonii was recorded as rare in Badin, Sanghar and Sukkur districts, while other species were abundant, common or uncommon. Pangshura tectum was recorded only from Sukkur district while Chitra indica was recorded in all the four selected districts of Sindh. Geoclemys hamiltonii was recorded only in D.I. Khan district of KPK. Lissemys punctata was the most abundant and most widely distributed species in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Population of freshwater turtles in Sindh is much higher than that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Currently, due to habitat destruction, eutrophication, agricultural farming and other anthropogenic activities, population of Geoclemys hamiltonii has also decreased in Sindh.
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