Rafetus

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Cladus: Archelosauria
Division: Pan-Testudines
Division: Testudinata
Ordo: Testudines
Subordo: Cryptodira
Superfamilia: Trionychoidea

Familia: Trionychidae
Subfamilia: Trionychinae
Genus: Rafetus
Species: R. euphracticus - R. swinhoei
Name

Rafetus Gray 1864:81

Synonymy

Oscaria Gray 1873f:157 (junior homonym)
Yuen Heude 1880:18

References

Gray, J.E. 1864. Revision of the species of Trionychidae found in Asia and Africa, with the descriptions of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864:76–98.
Gray, J.E. 1873. Notes on the tortoises of the ‘Zoology of Mexico’ of MM. A. Duméril and Bocourt. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (4)12:109–114.
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (van Dijk, P.P., Iverson, J.B., Rhodin, A.G.J., Shaffer, H.B. & Bour, R.) 2014. Turtles of the world, 7th edition: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution with maps, and conservation status. Chelonian Research Monographs 5(7):000.329–479 Reference page.
Rafetus – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Rafetus is a genus of highly endangered softshell turtles in the family Trionychidae. It is a genus of large turtles which are found in freshwater habitats in Asia.

Species

According to most taxonomists, the genus Rafetus contains the following two species.

Rafetus euphraticus (Daudin, 1801) – Euphrates softshell turtle
Rafetus swinhoei (Gray, 1873) – Yangtze giant softshell turtle

A third species, Rafetus leloii Hà, 2000 (synonym R. vietnamensis Le et al., 2010), known commonly as the Hoan Kiem turtle, has been proposed as a species. It is considered a junior synonym of Rafetus swinhoei by most authorities,[1] but some Vietnamese scientists insist the two forms are not identical. The last known individual at Hoan Kiem Lake was found dead on 19 January 2016.
Taxonomy
Cladogram

As drawn by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson, and Igor G. Danilov (2009)[2]

Trionychidae	Cyclanorbinae    Cyclanorbis       Cycloderma     Lissemys        †Plastomeninae    Hutchemys     Plastomenus        Trionychinae        Trionyx       Chitra     Pelochelys           Apalone     Rafetus             Amyda     Aspideretes     Nilssonia         Dogania     Palea     Pelodiscus

 
 
Distribution

Rafetus euphraticus: had been found at Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Khūzestān Province of Iran. The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates it as Endangered.[3]
Rafetus swinhoei: Only three known living individuals, one in Suzhou Zoo (China) and two in two lakes in northern Vietnam, Dong Mo lake and Xuan Khanh lake. IUCN rates it as critically endangered.[4]

References

Farkas B, Webb RG (2003). "Rafetus leloii Hà Dinh Dúc, 2000 — an invalid species of softshell turtle from Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam (Reptilia, Testudines, Trionychidae)". Zool. Abhandl. (Dresden) 53: 107-112.
Joyce, Walter G.; Revan, Ariel; Lyson, Tyler R.; Danilov, Igor G. (2009). "Two New Plastomenine Softshell Turtles from the Paleocene of Montana and Wyoming" (PDF). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 50 (2): 307–325. doi:10.3374/014.050.0202. S2CID 85505337.
Ghaffari, H.; Taskavak, E.; Turkozan, O.; Mobaraki, A. (2017). "Rafetus euphraticus ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017.
Asian Turtle Trade Working Group (2000). "Rafetus swinhoei ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2000.