Morphometric studies of the craniofacial region of the African sideneck turtle (Pelusios castaneus)

Abstract

Abstract Introduction and Methods: Morphometric analysis of the craniofacial regions of the African sideneck turtle (Pelusios castaneus) were carried out with the aim of generating data which could be useful in wildlife veterinary clinical practice as well as in the comparative regional anatomy of turtles. Results: The average weight of turtles used for this study was 0.51 ± 0.39kg, while the mean weight of head was 20 ± 6.50g. The mean palpebral fissure lengths for the left and right eyes were 0.75 ± 0.10 and 0.77 ± 0.11cm respectively, while the orbital heights of the left and right eyes and the distance between the medial canthi were 0.74 ± 0.11, 0.75 ± 0.11 and 0.59 ± 0.10cm respectively. Out of the twenty parameters measured, only four showed statistically significant difference (P<0.05) between the sexes, with the male values being higher in all the four cases. There were strong positive correlations between the left and right lengths of palpebral fissure (r= 0.959) and between the left and right orbital heights (r= 0.964). Conclusion: The data obtained in this study, being the first report on craniofacial indices of the African sideneck turtle, is expected to serve as baseline data on the craniofacial anatomy of the animal and hence in the comparative regional anatomy of both fresh water and sea turtles.