M. pritchardi, described to be from Myanmar (where neither of the parental species occurs apparently), has been found in the wild in China and Japan, and is produced to some extent in Chinese turtle farms.

While it is not unusual for perfectly valid geoemydid species to arise from hybridization, recognition as a species would require that the hybrids be fertile and constitute a phenotypically distinct and self-sustaining lineage.

This does not yet appear to be the case in this "species" as recently (Kosukawa et al. 2006) a population of these turtles has been found in Japan.

The hybrid offspring are perfectly fertile, which is not the case in Mauremys iversoni for example, another intergeneric hybrid, and have been bred in captivity already, with all juveniles resembling their parents (and not the parental species) perfectly as well.

Genetic studies verify its hybrid origin but scientists are unsure of the time of creation.