INDIAN STAR TORTOISE

Geochelone elegans

Carapace very convex, dorsal shields often forming humps; lateral margins nearly vertical; posterior margin somewhat expanded and strongly serrated; no nuchal; supracaudal undivided, incurved in the male; shields strongly striated concentrically; first vertebral longer than broad, the others broader than long, third at least as broad as the corresponding costal. Plastron large, truncated or openly notched in front, deeply notched, bifid behind; suture between the humerals much longer than that between the femorals; suture between the pectorals very short; axillary and inguinal rather small. Head moderate; forehead swollen, convex, and covered with rather small and irregular shields; beak feebly hooked, bi- or tricuspid; edge of jaws denticulated; alveolar ridge of upper jaw strong. Outer-anterior face of fore limb with numerous unequal-sized, large, imbricate, bony, pointed tubercles; heel with large, more or less spur-like tubercles; a group of large conical or subconical tubercles on the hinder side of the thigh. Carapace black, with yellow areolae from which yellow streaks radiate; these streaks usually narrow and very numerous: plastron likewise with black and yellow radiating streaks. The Indian Star Tortoise can grow 10 inches long.