Pelodiscus parviformisTang, 1997

Lesser Chinese softshell turtle

No photograph of this species exists under a license anyone may reuse. It gets the same page regardless.

A water-living, day-active turtle from the Oriental region.

Also called Lesser Chinese Softshell Turtle.

Reptilia › Testudines › Trionychidae › Pelodiscus

Active: Diurnal
Lives: Aquatic
Weighs up to: 256g; greatest

Body mass across Trionychidae

Heavier than only 0% of all species in Trionychidae anyone has measured.

0% of 32 species are smaller100% larger

256 gthe whole family, smallest to largest431,240 g

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body mass here runs from 256 to 431,240 g. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

15 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

The animal itself

Colour on the back: Brown
Pattern on the back: Uniform
Pupil: Round
Venomous: No
Fangs: None

Size

Body mass · greatestcomputed: 256g9 oz

How it lives

Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Aquatic
Habitat: Wetlands
Region: Oriental

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous

Naming and history

Subspecies: No
Described by: Tang
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: No
Described in: 1997

Keeping one

No enclosure size is given here

The standard sets enclosure size for turtles and tortoises genus by genus, and this genus is not among the roughly sixty it lists. No figure is given rather than one borrowed from a different animal.

No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Lesser Chinese softshell turtle. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.

Feeding

27kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 256 g, the heaviest recorded for Lesser Chinese softshell turtle — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Still living
— Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
— Length snout to vent · adult female mean
— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Shell length, front to back · greatest recorded
— Largest female · snout to vent
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · snout to vent
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · snout to vent
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Body mass at hatching
— Longest recorded life
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
— Diet
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How it hunts
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Average clutch
— Smallest clutch recorded
— Largest clutch recorded
— Mean clutch · smallest reported
— Mean clutch · largest reported
— Clutches in a year
— Clutches a year · fewest
— Clutches a year · most
— First breeds from · youngest recorded
— First breeds by · oldest recorded
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
— Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
— Limbs
— Sex decided by
— Conservation status
— Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
— Population trend
— Red List criteria
— Biome
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Density · lowest recorded
— Density · highest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Suborder
— Infraorder
— Type locality
— Active in
— Mainland or island
— Lowest it lives · above sea level
— Highest it lives · above sea level
— Range size

Others in Trionychidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Pelodiscus parviformis. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/pelodiscus-parviformis

@misc{pelodiscus_parviformis_2026,
  title  = {Pelodiscus parviformis},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/pelodiscus-parviformis}
}

Sources

Moura, M. R. et al. TetrapodTraits: a database of 33,281 tetrapod species. Used under CC BY 4.0. Observed values only; this encyclopedia does not publish its imputed predictions.
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.