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Yellow-bellied mud turtle

species of reptile

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ545765 ↗
Source-derived summary

The yellow-bellied mud turtle (Pelusios castanoides) is a species of turtle in the family Pelomedusidae. It is found in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Subspecies

P. c. castanoides

P. c. intergularis (Seychelles yellow-bellied mud turtle)

References

Hewitt, John 1931. Descriptions of some African tortoises. Annals of the Natal Museum 6:461-506, pls. XXXVI–XXXVIII.

Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996. Pelusios castanoides. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Downloaded on 29 July 2007.

Editorial summary

“Yellow-bellied mud turtle” enters the record as species of reptile. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yellow-bellied, turtle and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1931, 1996, 2006, 2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Yellow-bellied, turtle and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Yellow-bellied mud turtle” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yellow-bellied, turtle and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q545765. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1996, 2006 and 2007.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Yellow-bellied mud turtle”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Yellow-bellied mud turtle primary sources, Yellow-bellied mud turtle archive and Yellow-bellied research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Yellow-bellied mud turtle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.