P. hilarii has an oval, flattened carapace, with a maximum straight-line length of approximately 40 cm (16 in), weighing approximately 5 kg (11 lb). The carapace is usually dark brown, olive, or gray, with a yellow border. The head is large and flat, gray to olive above, with a pointed snout and two bicolored chin barbels. There is a black band on each side of the head, which comes out of the muzzle and passes over the eyes, going up to the neck. [7][6]
Biology
Phrynops hilarii swimming in captivity.
An omnivorous species, P. hilarii mainly feeds on arthropods, with a preference for copepods, ostracods, and hemipterans.[8] It feeds also on fishes, reptiles, birds, small mammals, and carrion.[citation needed] It is oviparous.[5] This turtle can live for up to 37 years.[9]
Females lay eggs twice a year, one clutch between February and May and the other between September and December.[citation needed] They lay from 9 to 14 eggs, with a maximum of 32 eggs and an incubation period of approximately 150 days.[citation needed]
^Duméril, André Marie Constant; Bibron, Gabriel (1835). Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome Second. Paris: Roret. 680 pp. (Platemys hilarii, new species, pp. 428-430). (in French).
Boulenger, George Albert (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). New Edition. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). x + 311 pp. + Plates I-III. (Hydraspis hilarii: p. 220, figure 59, three views of skull; p. 221, figure 60, carapace and plastron; p. 222, species description).
