http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/188 Assistant Professor & Head PUC Campus Thu, 30 Oct 2025 06:51:06 GMT 2025-10-30T06:51:06Z http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/1015 Title: Unveiling the Evolutionary Lineages and Habitat Dynamics of the Monotypic Crowned River Turtle Hardella thurjii (Gray, 1831) (Testudines: Geoemydidae): Strategic Conservation Insights for an Endangered Freshwater Turtle From Southern Asia Authors: Das, Kulendra Chandra Abstract: The matrilineal evolutionary history and habitat preferences of the monotopic freshwater turtle Hardella thurjii remain largely unexplored, posing challenges for the development of precise and effective conservation strategies. This study provides the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of H. thurjii (16,699bp), encompassing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs, and an AT-rich control region (CR). Most PCGs are initiated by ATG, except for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI), which uses GTG, with eight PCGs having complete termination codons and five exhibiting incomplete stop codons. The CR of H. thurjii exhibits a distinctive structural organization, characterized by conserved sequence blocks and three consensus tandem repeats, distinguishing it from other Batagurinae species. The phylogenetic analyses based on Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood approaches using PCGs reveal a sister relationship between H. thurjii and other Batagur species, further corroborating the monophyletic status of the subfamily Batagurinae. Further, species distribution modeling with an ensemble approach effectively maps the global habitat suitability of H. thurjii for conservation planning under current and future climates. The model identified 110,490km2 of suitable habitat in the present scenario, with 35,757km2 in the eastern range and 83,723km2 in the western range. Notably, future climate projections indicate a 32.38% overall increase in suitable habitat, primarily in the eastern range, while the western range faces a decline in habitat suitability. This contrasting pattern altered habitat geometry dynamics, increasing the size, number, and connectivity of patches in the eastern range while reducing and fragmenting them in the western range. By integrating mitogenomic and habitat suitability analyses, this study offers valuable insights into the past evolutionary history and current ecological preferences of endangered H. thurjii , aiding the development of effective conservation and management strategies for this species and other freshwater turtles globally Sun, 25 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/1015 2025-05-25T00:00:00Z http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/624 Title: Taxonomic rank of Indian tortoise: revisit with DNA barcoding perspective Authors: Chandra Kulendra, Das Abstract: Taxonomic rank of terrestrial tortoise inhabiting in India and adjacent countries has been an unresolved issue. Wild living species of Manouria and Indotestudo genera have been classiied through conventional taxonomy, but not adequately discriminated by mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Cytochrome oxidase (COI) marker has been quite successful to achieve the exact species level information. There needs of an accurate sequence based effort for the extant northeast (NE) Indian tortoises to identify them accurately and to provide locality information. To estimate the Kimura-2-Parameter (K2P) divergences and to construct the Neighbour- Joining (NJ) phylogeny, we generated six partial COI sequences derived from expert-identiied tortoise specimens. Both BLASTn and Bold-IDs revealed the deinitive identity of Manouria, whereas the congeners of Indotestudo remain inconclusive by only a two-fold interspeciic divergence gap with the other named Indian tortoise species. The NJ phylogeny readily differentiated the three Indian tortoise genera with their respective conspecies but depicted a nonsynonomous group of Indotestudo congeners. This study shows that the molecular identiication of Manouria emys phayrei, Indotestudo elongata and an allopatric population of Indotestudo forstenii in NE India corresponds correctly with existing morphological key support. Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/624 2014-08-13T00:00:00Z http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/623 Title: A first distribution record of the Indian Peacock Softshell Turtle Nilssonia hurum (Gray, 1830) (Reptilia: Testudines: Trionychidae) from Mizoram, India Authors: Chandra Kulendra, Das Abstract: The trionychid turtle species composition remains poorly documented in Mizoram. So far, only three turtle species under this family have been reported by previous workers. Here, we report the occurrence of the Indian Peacock Softshell Turtle Nilssonia hurum (Gray, 1830) based on two individuals collected from Buhchangphai and Serlui, Mizoram, India. Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/623 2020-10-26T00:00:00Z http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/622 Title: An ecologfical nofte on fthe new record of Cuora ambofinensfis (Rfiche fin Daudfin, 1801) (Repftfilfia: Tesftudfines: Geoemydfidae) fin norftheasftern Indfi Authors: Chandra Kulendra, Das Abstract: The presenft sftudy documenfts fthe firsft reporft on fthe occurrence of Cuora ambofinensfis fin Cachar and Karfimganj dfisftrficfts of fthe Barak Valley regfion of soufthern Assam Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://pucir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/622 2017-07-26T00:00:00Z