You are here » home advanced search Emydura macquarii

Emydura macquarii (GRAY, 1830)

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Emydura macquarii?

Add your own observation of
Emydura macquarii »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaChelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
SubspeciesEmydura macquarii macquarii (GRAY 1830)
Emydura macquarii krefftii (GRAY 1871)
Emydura macquarii emmotti MCCORD, CANN & JOSEPH-OUNI 2003
Emydura macquarii nigra MCCORD, CANN & JOSEPH-OUNI 2003 
Common NamesE: Murray River Turtle
emmotti: Emmott’s Short-necked Turtle
dharra: Macleay River Short-necked Turtle
gunnabarra: Hunter River Short-necked Turtle
nigra: Fraser Island Short-necked Turtle
signata: Brisbane Short-necked Turtle
australis: Australian Big-headed Side-necked Turtle 
SynonymEmys macquaria CUVIER 1829: 11 (nomen nudum)
Chelys (Hydraspis) macquarii GRAY 1830
Emys maquaria — SCHINZ 1833 (ex errore)
Platemys Macquaria — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 438
Chelymys macquaria — GRAY 1857: 486
Emydura macquarriae — BOULENGER 1889 (nomen subst. pro Hydraspis macquarrii)
Emydura macquarrii — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 46
Emydura macquarrii — IVERSON 1992: 28
Emydura macquarrii — WHITE & ARCHER 1994
Emydura macquarii — BONIN et al 2006
Emydura macquarii — TTWG 2021

Emydura macquarii macquarii (GRAY 1830)
Emys macquaria CUVIER 1829 (fide GEORGES & THOMSON 2010)
Chelys (Hydraspis) macquarii GRAY 1830
Hydraspis macquarrii — GRAY 1831
Euchelymys sulcifera GRAY 1871
Emydura signata AHL 1932
Emydura macquarii macquarii — BLACKMORE 1969
Emydura canni WORRELL 1970 (nomen nudum)
Emydura macquarrii signata — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977
Emydura signata — COGGER 1983
Chelymys cooki WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 8 (nomen nudum)
Chelymys johncanni WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 8 (nomen nudum)
Emydura signata — ALDERTON 1988
Emydura signata — GEORGES 1996
Emydura macquarii binjing CANN 1998
Emydura macquarii dharra CANN 1998
Emydura macquarii gunnabarra CANN 1998
Emydura macquarii dharuk CANN 1998
Emydura macquarii — COGGER 2000: 197
Emydura macquarii signata — COGGER 2000
Emydura signata — GREER 2006
Emydura macquarii macquarii — TTWG 2021

Emydura macquarii krefftii (GRAY 1871)
Chelymys krefftii GRAY 1871: 366
Chelymys victoriae var. marmorata GRAY 1872
Chelymys victoriae var. sulcata GRAY 1872
Emydura krefftii — BOULENGER 1889
Emydura kreffti — DE ROOIJ 1915: 318
Emydura kreffti — WHITE & ARCHER 1994
Emydura krefftii — COGGER 2000: 196
Emydura macquarii krefftii — BLACKMORE 1969
Emydura krefftii — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 45
Emydura macquarii krefftii — MCCORD et al. 2003
Emydura krefftii — TREMBATH et al. 2004
Emydura krefftii — BONIN et al 2006
Emydura macquarii krefftii — HAMANN et al. 2008
Emydura macquarii krefftii — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010
Emydura macquarii krefftii — TTWG 2021

Emydura macquarii emmotti MCCORD, CANN & JOSEPH-OUNI 2003
Chelymys windorah WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 8 (nomen nudum)
Emydura macquarii emmotti CANN et al. 2003
Emydura emmotti — CANN et al, 2003
Emydura macquarii emmotti — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010

Emydura macquarii nigra CANN, MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2003
Tropicochelymys insularis WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 9 (nomen nudum)
Emydura macquarii nigra MCCORD et al. 2003
Emydura nigra — JOSEPH-OUNI 2003
Emydura macquarii nigra — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010
Emydura macquarii nigra — TTWG 2021 
DistributionSE Australia (from SC Queensland southward to N Victoria and SE South Australia)

binjing: Clarence River

dharra: Macleay and Hastings Rivers

emmotti: SW Queensland; type locality: Waterloo Station,
Shearing Shed Waterhole, south-western Queensland, Australia (24°13'S, 143°17'E).

gunnabarra: Hunter River

dharuk: Sydney Basin

kreffti: Australia (Queensland generally east of the Great Dividing Range from the Cape York Peninsula southward to N New South Wales); Type locality: Burnett River, Qld.

macquarii: Murray-Darling Basin; Type locality: “Australia”; subsequently corrected to Macquarie River, N. S. W., see Gray (1831).

nigra: Fraser Island and Lake Poona of Cooloola Peninsula. Type locality: Lake MacKenzie, Fraser Island, Queensland (25°27'S, 153°04'E).

signata: Australia (coastal drainages from the vicinity of Brisbane, Queensland, southward to northern New South Wales); Type locality: Brisbane district, Qld.  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 9409
Holotype: BMNH 1947.3.4.36 [australis]
Holotype: R59558 Maskey’s property, nr Newton Boyd, NSW [binjing]
Holotype: R59553 upper Macleay River, nr intersection with Georges Creek, 30°54'S 152°10'E, NSW [dharra]
Holotype: R143598 Nepean River, NSW [dharuk]
Holotype: R143596 Hunter River 32°09'S 150°58'E, NSW [gunabarra]
Holotype: BMNH 1947.3.6.1 [kreffti]
Holotype: ZMB 34102 [signata]
Holotype: QM J51255, adult female, donated by Angus Emmott 15 July 1990 [emmotti]
Holotype: QM J48008, adult female, collected by Arthur Georges, 19 Jan 1986 [nigra] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (3470 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: Cogger (1983) listed Chelymys victoriae as a synonym of Emydura kreffti. According to some authors signata is a synonym of Elseya latisternum GRAY1867. Subspecies and distributions following COGGER 2000, plus recent updates. Synonymy following GEORGES & THOMSON 2010. GOODE (1967) synonymized Emydura subglobosa and Emydura albertisii with Emydura krefftii. MCCORD et al. (2003) consider E. kreffti as “allopatric populations” and therefore as subspecies of E. macquarii.

Types: Kehlmaier et al. 2019 declared the lectotype BMNH 1947.3.5.95 of Emydura victoriae (= Emydura macquarii) as invalid.

Type Species: Emys macquaria CUVIER 1827 (1829 fide GEORGES & THOMSON 2010) = Chelys (Hydraspis) macquarii GRAY 1830 is the type species of the genus Emydura BONAPARTE 1836.

Subspecies: The new subspecies described by MCCORD et al. (2003) may have been named before by WELLS & WELLINGTON (1985) as Emydura windorah and Emydura insularis but MCCORD et al. (2003) consider these names as nomina nuda. Emydura macquarii signata AHL 1932 has been elevated to full species status.

Distribution: Map in MACCORD et al. (2003).

Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps) 
EtymologyNamed after the Macquarie River, New South Wales, Australia. The river was named after Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824), a former Governor of New South Wales.

Emydura macquarii krefftii was named after Gerhard Krefft (1830-1881), German-born naturalist who worked mostly in Australia. For biographical notes on Krefft see Williams et al. (2006)

The genus was named after Greek emys (genitive emydos) = freshwater turtle and Greek oura = tail. 
References
  • Ahl, E. 1932. Beschreibung einer neuen Schildkröte aus Australien. Sber. Ges. naturf. Freunde, Berlin 1932: 127-129
  • Artner, H. 1999. Nomenklatur aktuell - Emydura. Emys 6 (5): 26
  • Artner, H. 1999. Nomenklatur aktuell - Emydura macquarii. Emys 6 (2): 26
  • Artner, H. G. 1999. Nomenklatur aktuell: Gattung Emydura (außer E. macquarii). Emys 6 (5): 26
  • Artner, H. G. 2003. Haltung und nachzucht von spitzkopfschildkröten des formenkreises Emydura macquarii Gray, 1831. Emys 10 (3): 17–36
  • Baur, G. 1888. Osteologische Notizen über Reptilien. Fortsetzung III, IV, V. Zool. Anz. 11: 417-424, 592-597, 736-740 - get paper here
  • Baur, G. 1889. On Meiolania and some points in the oseology of the Testudinata: a reply to Mr. G.A. Boulenger. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 4: 37-46 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Blackmore, E.H. 1969. On the Australasian Chelidae (Chelonia). Victorian Naturalist 86: 280–283 - get paper here
  • Bonin, F., Devaux, B. & Dupré, A. 2006. Turtles of the World. English translation by P.C.H. Pritchard. Johns Hopkins University Press, 416 pp.
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1889. Catalogue of the chelonians, rhynchocephalians, and crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum, London, 311 pp. - get paper here
  • Bour, R. 2008. Global diversity of turtles (Chelonii; Reptilia) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:593–598 - get paper here
  • Cann, J. 1972. Notes on some tortoises collected in Northern Australia. Victorian Naturalist 89: 165-168 - get paper here
  • Cann, John 1998. Australian Freshwater Turtles. Beaumont Publishing, Singapore: 292 pp.
  • Chessman, B.C. 1987. Atmospheric and Aquatic Basking of the Australian Freshwater Turtle Emydura macquarii (Gray) (Testudines: Chelidae) Herpetologica 43 (3): 301-306. - get paper here
  • Cogger H.G., Cameron EE & Cogger HM 1983. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Volume 1: AMPHIBIA AND REPTILIA. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Covacevich J.A., Couper, P.J., McDonald, K.R. 1998. Reptile diversity at risk in the Brigalow Belt, Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 42 (2): 475-486 - get paper here
  • Cuvier, G. J. L. N. F. D. 1829. Le Regne Animal Distribué, d'apres son Organisation, pur servir de base à l'Histoire naturelle des Animaux et d'introduction à l'Anatomie Comparé. Nouvelle Edition [second edition]. Vol. 2. Les Reptiles. Déterville, Paris, i-xvi, 1-406 - get paper here
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., and G. Bibron. 1835. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles, Vol. 2. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 680 p. - get paper here
  • Ernst,C.H. and Barbour,R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. - London
  • Gaffney, Eugene S. 1977. The side-necked turtle family Chelidae: a theory of relationships using shared derived characters. American Museum Novitates (2620): 1-28 - get paper here
  • Georges, A. 1996. Electrophoretic delineation of species boundaries within the short-necked freshwater turtles of Australia (Testudines: Chelidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (1996), 118: 241–260. - get paper here
  • Georges, A. & Thomson, S. 2010. Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species. Zootaxa 2496: 1–37 - get paper here
  • Georges, Arthur and Ricky-J Spencer 2015. Bellinger River Turtles: Assessment of genetic diversity and hybridization in a species under threat. University of Canberra Report, 14 pp. - get paper here
  • Goode, J. 1967. Freshwater tortoises of Australia and New Guinea. Lansdowne Press, Melbourne 154 pp.
  • Gray, J. E. 1831. A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [V Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp. [1830] - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1871. Notes on Australian freshwater tortoises. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 8: 366 - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1841. A catalogue of the species of reptiles and Amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some new species from Western Australia. Appendix E, pp. 422-449. In: G. Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in Northwest T. and W. Boone, London. Vol. 2: 422-449 + plates - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1857. Description of a new species of Chelodina from Australia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 19: 485-486 - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1872. On the genus Chelymys and its allies from Australia. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1872: 504-514 - get paper here
  • HAMANN, M., SCHÄUBLE, C.S., EMERICK, S.P., LIMPUS, D.J. & LIMPUS, C.J. 2008. Freshwater turtle populations in the Burnett River. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 52 (2): 221-232 - get paper here
  • Kehlmaier, C., Zhang, X., Georges, A., Campbell, P. D., Thomson, S., & Fritz, U. 2019. Mitogenomics of historical type specimens of Australasian turtles: clarification of taxonomic confusion and old mitochondrial introgression. Scientific Reports, 9(1): 5841 - get paper here
  • Lintermans, Mark 1997. First record of the Murray Turtle, Emydura macquarii (Gray) (Testudines: Chelidae) from the Australian Capital Territory. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (1): 38-40
  • Martinez, P. A., Ezaz, T., Valenzuela, N., Georges, A. and Marshall Graves, J.A. 2008. An XX/XY heteromorphic sex chromosome system in the Australian chelid turtle Emydura macquarii : A new piece in the puzzle of sex chromosome evolution in turtles. Chromosome Research 16: 815-825 - get paper here
  • Mazzoleni, Sofia; Barbora Augstenová, Lorenzo Clemente, Markus Auer, Uwe Fritz, Peter Praschag, Tomáš Protiva, Petr Velenský, Lukáš Kratochvíl & Michail Rovatsos 2020. Sex is determined by XX/XY sex chromosomes in Australasian side-necked turtles (Testudines: Chelidae). Sci Rep 10: 4276 - get paper here
  • McCord, W.P.; Cann, J. & Joseph-Ouni, M. 2003. A taxonomic assessment of Emydura (Testudines: Chelidae) with descriptions of new subspecies from Queensland, Australia. Reptilia (GB) (27): 59-63 - get paper here
  • McCord, W.P.; Joseph-Ouni, M. & Cann, J. 2003. Chelonian Illustrations #7. Short-neck, Western Swamp, and Pig-Nose Turtles from Australia and New Guinea. Reptilia (GB) (27): 64-68 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1969. Bemerkungen über einige Halswender-Schildkröten. Senckenbergiana biologica 50: 31-38
  • Michael, D.R.; D.B. Lindenmayer; M. Crane; C. MacGregor; R. Montague-Drake; L. McBurney. 2011. Reptilia, Murray catchment, New South Wales, southeastern Australia. Check List 7 (1):25-29 - get paper here
  • Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp.
  • Thompson, M.B. 1988. Influence of Incubation Temperature and Water Potential on Sex Determination in Emydura macquarii (Testudines: Pleurodira) Herpetologica 44 (1): 86-90. - get paper here
  • Thompson, M.B. 1988. Nest Temperatures in the Pleurodiran Turtle, Emydura macquarii Copeia 1988 (4): 996-1000. - get paper here
  • Thomson, Robert C.; Andrew M. Shedlock, Scott V. Edwards and H. Bradley Shaffer 2008. Developing markers for multilocus phylogenetics in non-model organisms: A test case with turtles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49 (2): 514-525 - get paper here
  • Trefz & Hiller 1992. Erfolgreiche Behandlung von Panzernekrosen bei der Rotbauch-Spitzkopfschildkröte, Emydura australis subglobosa. Herpetofauna 14 (81): 33-34 - get paper here
  • Trembath, D.; Freier, D. & Elliott, J. 2004. Sexual-size dimorphism in Emydura krefftii (Testudines: Chelidae) from Ross River, Townsville, Australia. Herpetological Review 35 (1): 31-34 - get paper here
  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P. 2021. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Chelonian Research Monographs 8:1–472. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. - get paper here
  • Valenzuela, N. 2009. Co-Evolution of Genomic Structure and Selective Forces Underlying Sexual Development and Reproduction. Cytogenet Genome Res 127: 232-241 - get paper here
  • Wermuth, H., and R. Mertens. 1961. Schildkröten, Krokodile, Brückenechsen. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena. xxvi + 422 pp.
  • Wermuth, H., and R. Mertens. 1977. Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Testudines, Crocodylia, Rhynchocephalia. Das Tierreich. Berlin. 100: i-xxvii, 1-174 - get paper here
  • Werning, H. 2003. Zwei neue Schildkröten aus Australien. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (42): 10-11 - get paper here
  • White A W; Archer M 1994. Emydura lavarackorum, a new Pleistocene turtle (Pleurodira: Chelidae) from fluviatile deposits at Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Rec. South Austral. Mus. 27 (2): 159-167 - get paper here
  • Williams, D.; Wüster, W. & Fry, B.G. 2006. The good, the bad and the ugly: Australian snake taxonomists and a history of the taxonomy of Australia’s venomous snakes. Toxicon 48: 919–930 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Winkler, J.D. 2006. Testing phylogenetic implications of eggshell characters in side-necked turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira). Zoology 109: 127-136 - get paper here
  • Worrell, E. 1970. Reptiles of Australia, 2nd ed. Angus & Robertson, Sydney: xv + 169 pp.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator