Shedding Light into the Confusing History of <i>Pelodiscus axenaria</i> (Zhou, Zhang et Fang, 1991), Clarifying and Correcting Its Taxonomic Position within the <i>P. axenaria</i> Complex with the Description of Yet Another <i>Pelodiscus</i> Species

The softshell turtle genus Pelodiscus has a long and complex taxonomic history. It was long believed that no specimens of the original description of Pelodiscus axenaria exist and as such, a detailed description and molecular phylogenetic analysis of P. axenaria from its type specimen locality Taoyuan, Hunan, China, were not possible. Recent studies revealed that P. axenaria belongs to a species complex comprising at least four morphologically challenging but genetically divergent lineages. In this study, we redescribe the original type specimen series (4 males and 6 females) of P. axenaria from Yuanjiang area of Taoyuan based on morphological and molecular evidence. Our molecular phylogenetic analysis provided evidence that Pelodiscus shipian and Pelodiscus jiangxiensis clearly cluster within our P. axenaria clade and as such should be regarded as junior synonyms of Pelodiscus axenaria. The specimens that Gong et al. (2022) regarded as P. axenaria in their studies, clearly represent a new and herein newly described species. The proposed neotype of P. axenaria by Gong et al. (2022), which represents this new species, is designated as the holotype of this new species, Pelodiscus huike sp. nov.