Malayan Snail-Eating Turtle (Malayemys macrocephala) ???

This turtle I saw back in 2011 at Khao Yai (Nakhorn Ratchasima), was much bigger than the other specimen I saw See Here. It is possible that it is not the sub-species Malayemys macrocephala and is in fact, the nominate sub-species Malayemys subtrijuda as it distinctly has an additional stripe on the eye. I need an expert to know for sure.  For now, I will keep it as the previous specimen as before, due to the location I saw it. Any advance on species?

 

Here you can see the additional stripe next to the eye.  

 

Now he's retreated back into the depths ...well, not quite yet ...

 

Malayan Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis)

At the start of January 2015, there was a commotion in the school playground. A terrapin (or turtle) had found its way into the school pond and was now climbing out. I managed to take a few photos with my phone and then posted them on Facebook (Siamensis Group). Marcus Ng rapidly responded with an ID: the Malayan Box Turtle, Cuora amboinensis. (It is also known as the Southeast Asian Box Turtle).

 

It was a fairly big turtle and was identifiable through its domed shell and distinctive stripes on the head. I hope to see another one day and shot it with my proper camera. Many thanks to Marcus for the ID.

 

 

Malayan Snail-eating Turtle (Malayemys macrocephala)

Riding my motorbike along highway 12 towards Chumphae, Khon Kaen, one very early morning nearly ended in disaster. A terrapin ran straight in front of me and I had to do an emergency stop and swerved all over the road. I managed to get a few photos of him before he disappeared into the grass verge. Both unharmed and a new species for me.

 

Its shell was around 25-30 cms. Doing a little research, it looked like the Malayan Snail-Eating Turtle, (also known as the Rice-Field Terrapin), Malayemys subtrijuda. However, the markings on the head were slightly different. Digging a little further, I found out that central and western Thailand has a sub-species, Malayemys macrocephala (differentiated by the number of stripes on the head)*. I think that is the correct ID, though I am certainly no terrapin/turtle expert!

 

The central/western sub-species seems to have two stripes instead of three.

 

 

The species can be identified by three distinct ridges along the top of the shell.*

 

 

* Source: https://bangkokherps.wordpress.com