Animalia > Chordata > Testudines > Testudinidae > Pyxis > Pyxis arachnoides

Pyxis arachnoides (Madagascan Spider Tortoise; common spider tortoise)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The Spider Tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) is a species of tortoise in the Testudinidae family. It is endemic to Madagascar and is one of only two species in the genus Pyxis. Very little is known about the life cycle of this endangered tortoise, which is believed to live for up to 70 years. The remaining tortoises are found only in south western Madagascar, where they inhabit the spiny vegetation of the sandy coastal areas. Here they feed on young leaves, insect larvae, and even the droppings of larger animals.
View Wikipedia Record: Pyxis arachnoides

Infraspecies

Pyxis arachnoides arachnoides (Common spider tortoise)
Pyxis arachnoides brygooi (Northern spider tortoise)
Pyxis arachnoides oblonga (Southern spider tortoise)

Endangered Species

Status: Critically Endangered
View IUCN Record: Pyxis arachnoides

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  301 grams
Gestation [1]  7 months 25 days
Litter Size [2]  1
Litters / Year [2]  1

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Madagascar dry deciduous forests Madagascar Afrotropic Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Madagascar spiny thickets Madagascar Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Madagascar succulent woodlands Madagascar Afrotropic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles Yes

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Alaeuris dupuisi[3]
Alaeuris numidica[3]
Alaeuris quadrilabiatus <Unverified Name>[3]
Mehdiella cristata[3]
Mehdiella dollfusi[3]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
2Turtles and Tortoises Demographic Traits Database for CITES Listed Species ver. 01, Species360 (2018)
3Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0