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Amphibians and reptiles

Geoffroy's side-necked turtle

Amazing fact

Geoffroy's side-necked turtle has yellow barbels on its chin.

Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Geoffroy's side-necked turtle in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Geoffroy's side-necked turtle has yellow barbels on its chin.

SourceNaturalis Biodiversity Center — Phrynops geoffroanus

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THE REAL WORLD

The real Geoffroy's side-necked turtle

Scientific name
Phrynops geoffroanus
Japanese name
ジョフロアカエルガメ
Group
Amphibians and reptiles
Class
Reptilia
Order
Testudines
Family
Chelidae
Genus
Phrynops
Facts about the real animal.
01

It lives from central South America northward.

鳥羽水族館 — ジョフロアカエルガメ
02

Its upper shell is brown to black, and its belly shell is red to pink with irregular black blotches.

鳥羽水族館 — ジョフロアカエルガメ
03

It also copes well with low temperatures.

鳥羽水族館 — ジョフロアカエルガメ

How the Geoffroy's side-necked turtle lives

It lives in rivers, lakes and lagoons with slow currents and plenty of aquatic plants. It mainly eats fish, aquatic insects and other small aquatic animals. In the wild, it is often seen basking in the sun. Its nesting season begins when the river level starts to fall.

Naturalis Biodiversity CenterInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)

Basic data

Range
Central and northern South America
鳥羽水族館

Where the Geoffroy's side-necked turtle has been recorded

World map with dots where the Geoffroy's side-necked turtle has been recorded
Each dot marks a place with observations or specimens shared on GBIF. Some records are of animals that strayed or were brought by people, so the dots are not always where the animal lives.

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesCentral and South AmericaRivers and wetlands

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

简体中文
花面蟾龟
繁體中文
花面蟾頭龜
Português (Brasil)
Cágado-de-ferradura-comum

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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