Abstract

The Asiatic softshell turtle, also known as the black-rayed softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea; Accession no: MT039230), is found in northeastern India (Mizoram), Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. This turtle is thought to have been introduced into the Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, and Yunnan, China, through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. Herein, we determined the complete mitochondrial genome of A. cartilaginea for the first time using next-generation sequencing (NGS). The assembled mitogenome was 16,763 bp in length and encoded 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA), and one control region (CR). The PCGs based maximum-likelihood phylogeny discriminated A. cartilaginea from other Testudines and clusters within family Trionychidae with the sister taxa of Nilssonia nigricans.