Carapace olive, that of young with some black spots, especially on the posterior edge of the first three vertebrals; an orange vertebral band and a narrow yellow margin; carapace more uniform in the adult; plastron orange or red, with black spots, or brown with a yellowish anterior and lateral border to each shield, in one specimen uniform yellow.

Dorsally, the head is black with a large crescent-shaped, orange to yellowish red blotch on each temple (these may unite posteriorly to form a V-shaped mark).

The karyotype is 2n = 52; 20 metacentric and submetacentric, 10 subtelocentric, and 22 acrocentric and telocentric chromosomes Males are brighter in color than females, and have long, thick tails with the vent beyond the carapacial rim.

This is a quiet-water turtle, occurring in quiet streams, canals, oxbows, ponds, and man-made water tanks.

Basking helps the turtle to maintain its body temperature as well as for the synthesis of Vitamin D. Male P. tecta develop a small tubercle at the end of the thick tail during October, just before the breeding season, and shed it in March.

P. tecta in Bangladesh may oviposit in two separate periods, from the beginning of December to mid-January and from mid-February to the end of March.

There are reports of clutches with a maximum of 15 ovoid (50-51 x 20–21 mm), white eggs, that tend to become bluish at hatching time.

Hatchlings have 34.1-35.2 mm carapaces and weigh 7 g; This species is omnivorous, feeding on aquatic plants, like water hyacinths and weeds, and animal prey such as crabs and snails; it also scavenges.

Pangshura tecta inhabits the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, and Mahanadi river drainages in Pakistan, northern and peninsular India, and Bangladesh.