Bell, 1827
Home's hinge-back tortoise
Recognition
The elongated carapace (to 22.3 cm) is domed with a flat, sometimes slightly keeled, dorsal surface, sloping sides, the anterior marginals flared but only slightly reverted, and the posterior marginals flared and strongly reverted and serrated. Only a shallow depression, at best, occurs in the cervical region, and the posterior portion of the carapace begins to drop off abruptly at the front of the 5th vertebral. An elongated cervical is usually present (rarely absent). Vertebrals 2-5 are broader than long; the flared 5th is widest. Vertebral 1 is broader than long in juveniles, but becomes progressively longer with age until it is longer than broad. A disrupted keel, in the form of a low knoblike projection on each vertebral, may be present on younger individuals; this keel is usually lost with age. There are 11 or rarely 12 marginals on each side, and a single, usually undivided, reverted supracaudal scute. Carapacial color ranges from totally dark brown to tan, or there may be some yellow pigment on the vertebrals and pleurals, or dark borders on these scutes. The thickened, paired gulars project only slightly beyond the carapacial rim, and are widely notched. The short plastral hindlobe is shallowly notched posteriorly. There are two to four small axillary scutes and a large inguinal (in contact with the femoral) on each bridge. The plastral formula is: abd > hum > gul > pect >< fem > an. The plastron is dark brown to tan with some yellow at the seams. The brown to yellow head is small to moderate with a nonprojecting snout and a hooked upper jaw. Its prefrontals are divided longitudinally and the large frontal scale may be subdivided. Other head scales are small and irregularly shaped. The forelimbs have on their anterior surfaces a few scattered, large overlapping scutes in five to eight longitudinal rows. The thigh lacks enlarged tubercles, but the heel may have a large spurlike scale. There are five claws on each forefoot. The limbs and tail are brown to yellow. The tail ends in a clawlike tubercle.
Males have longer, thicker tails and concave plastra. Females are larger than males.
Distribution
Kinixys homeana ranges in West Africa from Liberia to Cameroon and also occurs in eastern Congo (former Zaire).
Habitat
Kinixys homeana occurs in lowland evergreen forest, but does not seem to prefer as moist a habitat as K. erosa.
Natural History
Blackwell (1968) reported a possible minimum incubation period of five months. The eggs are oval to almost spherical (46 x 35 mm) and have brittle shells. Hatchlings have flattened, brown carapaces, 42-47 mm long, with very spiny rims and no hinge or cervical scute.
Kinixys homeana is omnivorous (Broadley, 1989e). Captives accept both animal and plant foods. Food-searching olfactory movements are usually straight, darting jabs (Eglis, 1962).
IUCN Red List Status (1996)
Data deficient.