The turtle fauna of Laos has received relatively little attention. Bourret's (1941) regional monograph on the turtles of Indochina provided locality records in Laos only for the 2 species having type localities there, Cuora mouhotii and Cyclemys tcheponensis. To date, 13 species of turtles have been documented to occur in Laos (Stuart and Timmins 2000; Stuart and Platt 2004). These are Platysternon megacephalum, Cuora amboinensis, C. galbinifrons, C. mouhotii, Cyclemys oldhamii (as tcheponensis in Bourret 1941; Stuart and Platt 2004; see Stuart and Fritz 2008 for explanation), Heosemys grandis, H. annandalii, Malayemys subtrijuga, Sacalia quadriocellata, Indotestudo elongata, Manouria impressa, Amyda cartilaginea, and Pelochelys cantorii. A 14th species, Cuora trifasciata, has been included in this country's fauna on the basis of captives in the capitol's zoo that were claimed by the zoo's director to have originated in Laos, as well as morphological descriptions and high trade values reported by villagers that are consistent with this species (Timmins and Khounboline 1999). The majority of records of the 13 species documented in Laos have been obtained from markets, villages, and hunters (Stuart and Platt 2004), and consequently the geographic distributions and habitat usages of these species in the country are not well known. Additional species of turtles that occur in adjacent parts of China, Vietnam, and Cambodia may also be in Laos but have not yet been documented there, e.g., Siebenrockiella crassicollis and Palea steindachneri. Here, we provide the first records for 2 such species in Laos, Geoemyda spengleri and Cuora bourreti.

The black-breasted leaf turtle, G. spengleri, occurs from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan through southern China to as far south as Quang Nam Province, Vietnam (Smith 1931; Bourret 1941; Iverson 1992; Shi 2005; Nguyen et al. 2009). Although the species occurs in Vietnam in a number of provinces that lie along the Laos border (Nguyen et al. 2009), it has not been previously documented within Laos.

Between 20 March and 8 April 2007, a biodiversity monitoring team from the Nam Theun 2 Watershed Management and Protection Authority was deployed into the northern portion of Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, in Khamkeut District, Bolikhamxay Province, Laos, to set camera traps for photographing wildlife. On 27 March 2007, members of the team found and photographed a live G. spengleri in the wild, in evergreen forest, 18°21′0.0″N, 105°09′05.5″E (Fig. 1; this and other coordinates WGS 84 datum), at 1080 m elevation. The turtle was photographed (Fig. 2) and released at the site of capture. During the survey, the team saw at least 2 other individuals of the same species.

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The Annamese box turtle, Cuora bourreti, is known only from central Vietnam (Obst and Reimann 1994; Nguyen et al. 2009; Stuart and Parham 2004), ranging from Ha Tinh Province (Fritz et al. 2002) southward to Kon Tum Province (Nguyen et al. 2009). Details of its distribution are uncertain owing to a paucity of field records and confused identifications with C. galbinifrons, its sister taxon (Stuart and Parham 2004) with which it may hybridize (Fritz et al. 2002). Nguyen et al. (2009) extended the range of C. bourreti northward to Nghe An Province, including Pu Mat Nature Reserve, but this is likely in error because the same authors also listed that locality within the range of C. galbinifrons and field-collected specimens from Pu Mat are C. galbinifrons (Stuart and Parham 2004; Stuart and Platt 2004). Obst and Reimann (1994) included adjacent southeastern Laos and northeastern Cambodia within the range of C. bourreti solely on the claims of animal traders, but no evidence has yet substantiated the occurrence of this species outside of Vietnam.

We made 2 observations of C. bourreti (Fig. 2) during the course of a joint Wildlife Conservation Society–Lane Xang Minerals Ltd. wildlife survey in southeastern Laos (Duckworth et al. 2010). On 26 June 2009, two of us (CDH and OV) examined a live C. bourreti in the possession of a turtle hunter who was camping at Laving-Laveun within the Laving-Laveun Provincial Protected Area, Vilabouli District, Savannakhet Province, Laos, 16°59′07.0″N, 106°23′18.7″E (Fig. 1). On 24 July 2009, one of us (SS) also examined a live C. bourreti held in Ban Klay Village ( =  Ban Khalai; Fig. 1), Vilabouli District, Savannakhet Province, 17°01′N, 106°13′E, that was captured by a village resident within Ban Klay's resource use area. Although neither record involved a direct observation of a free-living turtle, the circumstances cast little doubt on their provenance within easternmost Savannakhet Province, Laos. Laving-Laveun is a 4- to 5-km² level area surrounded by wet evergreen forest in a remote, uninhabited portion of Laving-Laveun Provincial Protected Area that lies approximately 3 days' walk from a road in Laos and 2 days' walk from a road in Vietnam. Ban Klay is a remote village situated within forest approximately a half-day walk from the nearest road, and the steep, forested terrain between it and the Vietnamese border approximately 20 km to the east is uninhabited. The distances of these 2 observation sites from civilization imply that the turtles were harvested locally, as claimed, and not brought in from elsewhere. Moreover, turtle trade consistently moves from Laos to Vietnam, and not the reverse (Stuart and Timmins 2000; Stuart et al. 2000).

Laos is a major source of turtles for the food and traditional medicine markets in China, and extensive trade networks occur throughout the country to transport turtles from remote villages in Laos to Vietnam, and eventually, China (Stuart and Timmins 2000; Stuart et al. 2000). Wild turtles are also consumed domestically in Laos (Stuart and Timmins 2000). As a result of heavy hunting pressure to meet these demands, most species of turtles in Laos are threatened (Stuart and Timmins 2000). Cuora galbinifrons, a close relative of C. bourreti, is hunted in Laos with dogs and commands a high trade value (Stuart and Timmins 2000), and it is likely that C. bourreti shares the same fate. Both of our Laos records of C. bourreti were of animals observed at the beginning of their journey through the trade. It is assumed that G. spengleri is also traded in Laos given that all other species of turtles there have trade value (Stuart and Timmins 2000), and because the species is commonly observed in trade in Vietnam (Hendrie 2000). Fortunately, both of the newly discovered species in Laos occur within protected areas that are intended to curb exploitation of natural resources, such as turtles. Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area is Laos' largest and best-funded protected area (WMPA 2005). Laving-Laveun Provincial Protected Area was designated only in 2008 and currently lacks enforcement personnel and resources. However, the biodiversity importance of its wet evergreen forests and wildlife species contained within them are now rightly drawing conservation attention (Duckworth et al. 2010), and there is hope that Laving-Laveun will be elevated to national protected area status in the near future.