Nilssonia is agenus ofsoftshell turtles (family Trionychidae) from rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes inSouth Asia and Burma. In many treatments, it ismonotypic, with the single speciesBurmese peacock softshell (N. formosa). However, the supposed other genus ofpeacock softshells,Aspideretes, is more closely related toN. formosa than had been believed. They differ only in the neural plates between the firstpleural scale pair of the bonycarapace, which are fused into one inN. formosa and unfused in the others.[5]
Thus, it has been proposed to unite the two genera under the older name,Nilssonia. As it seems, the closest living relatives of the Burmese peacock softshell are theIndian softshell turtle (A./N. gangeticus) and theLeith's softshell turtle (A./N. leithii), making the merging of the genera well warranted.[5][2]
^abGray, John Edward (1872). "Notes on the mud-tortoises of India (Trionyx, Geoffroy)".Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Fourth Series10: 326–340.
^abTurtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk PP, Iverson JB, Rhodin AGJ, Shaffer HB, Bour R] (2014). "Turtles of the world, 7th edition: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution with maps, and conservation status".In: Rhodin AGJ,Pritchard PCH, van Dijk PP, Saumure RA, Buhlmann KA, Iverson JB,Mittermeier RA (editors) (2014). "Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group".Chelonian Research Monographs5 (7): 000.329–479, doi:10.3854/ crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014.
^Gray, John Edward (1873). "Notes on mud-tortoises (Trionyx, Geoffroy), and on the skulls of the different kinds".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London1873: 38–72.
^Hay, Oliver P. (1904). "On the existing genera of the Trionychidae".Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society42: 268–274.
^abPraschag P, Hundsdörfer AK, Reza AHMA, Fritz U (2007). "Genetic evidence for wild-livingAspideretes nigricans and a molecular phylogeny of South Asian softshell turtles (Reptilia: Trionychidae:Aspideretes, Nilssonia)".Zool. Scripta36 (4): 301–310.doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2007.00282.x (HTML abstract)
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. xiii + 296 pp.ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Nilsson", p. 191).