Spiny turtle
Heosemys spinosa (Gray, 1831)
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa) is a species in the family Geoemydidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh about 950 g and live up to 9.3 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the spiny turtle
- Weight
- 950 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 22 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 9.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 22.9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 106 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the spiny turtle live?
Not recorded
Is the spiny turtle endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the spiny turtle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyGeoemydidae
- genusHeosemys
- SpeciesHeosemys spinosa (Gray, 1831)
Synonyms Emys spinosa, Emys spinosae, Geoemyda spinosa
Other names and names in other languages (15)
- Spiny terrapinEnglish
- Sunburst turtleEnglish
- želva ostnitáCzech
- PigskildpaddeDanish
- Stachel-ErdschildkröteGerman
- Stachelrand-SchildkröteGerman
- StachelrandschildkröteGerman
- Héosémyde épineuseFrench
- tüskés partiteknősHungarian
- Kura-kura DuriIndonesian
- Kura-kura MatahariIndonesian
- トゲヤマガメJapanese
- Колючая черепахаRussian
- เต่าจักรThai
- 太陽龜Chinese
Relatives of the spiny turtle
Other species in the same genus Heosemys.
Arakan forest turtle
Heosemys depressa
Giant Asian pond turtle
Heosemys grandis
Yellow-headed Temple turtle
Heosemys annandalii
CompareSpiny turtle vs Arakan forest turtleSpiny turtle vs Giant Asian pond turtleSpiny turtle vs Yellow-headed Temple turtleSpiny turtle vs Heosemys malayensis
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the spiny turtle?
An adult spiny turtle weighs 950 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the spiny turtle live?
The spiny turtle has a recorded lifespan of 9.3 years.
What kind of animal is the spiny turtle?
The spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa) belongs to the family Geoemydidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-turtle
“Spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-turtle.
@misc{spiny_turtle_2026,
title = {Spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/spiny-turtle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}