Myuchelys latisternum (GRAY, 1867)
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Myuchelys latisternum
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| Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Northern Australian Snapping Turtle, Saw-shelled Turtle |
| Synonym | Elseya latisternum GRAY 1867 Euchelymys spinosa GRAY 1871 Elseya latisternon — GRAY 1871 Emydura latisternum — BOULENGER 1889 Emydura signata AHL 1932 Emydura latisternum — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977 Elseya latisternon — THIEME 1984 Elseya latisternum — COGGER 2000: 194 Elseya latisternum — BONIN et al 2006 Elseya latisternum — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007 Wollumbinia latisternum — WELLS 2007 (unavailable name) Wollumbinia latisternum — HAMANN et al. 2008 Wollumbinia latisternum — WELLS 2009 Wollumbinia dorsii WELLS 2009 (fide THOMSON & GEORGES 2010) Wollumbinia spinosa — WELLS 2009 (unavailable name) Myuchelys latisternum — THOMSON & GEORGES 2009 Wollumbinia latisternum — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Myuchelys latisternum — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 Myochelys latisternum — VALVERDE 2010 (in error) Myuchelys latisternum — TTWG 2014: 434 Wollumbinia latisternum — COGGER 2014: 255 Wollumbinia latisternum — CANN & SADLIER 2017 Wollumbinia latisternum — SWAN et al. 2017 Myuchelys latisternum — THOMSON et al. 2021 Myuchelys latisternum — TTWG 2021 |
| Distribution | NE Australia (from the Cape York Peninsula southward to northern New South Wales; Northern Territory, Queensland) Type locality: "North Australia”. dorsii: Australia (New South Wales); Type locality: Richmond River, near Wiangaree, New South Wales. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Syntypes: BMNH 67.5.13.19-20, Cape York Qld, collected by E. Dämel, purchased Museum Godeffroy. See Cann & Sadlier (2017) and SMales et al. 2019 for discussion of the identity of the type specimens. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.22.77 [Euchelymys spinosa] Holotype: AMS R172224, adult female in the Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW. Collected by Richard W. Wells on 6 December, 2008. The holotype was taken active at 1500 hrs in 1-2 metres water depth in a riffle zone over a mixed sediment bottom of basalt, sand and flood silt. [dorsii] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus Myuchelys): A member of the short-necked chelid turtles of the Australasian region which, excluding Pseudemydura umbrina (Siebenrock, 1901), together form a well-established clade (Georges & Adams, 1992; Georges, et al., 1998). Differs from other short-necked turtles of the clade in possessing the following combination of characters (Table 1): Absence of a well-developed alveolar ridge on the triturating surfaces and underlying bones of the jaw (Fig. 1B) (present only in the redefined Elseya, Fig. 1A); parietal arch of skull wide, nearly as wide as tympanum (Fig. 2) (narrower than the tympanum in Elseya and Emydura); large distinctive head shield, entire, that extends in part down the parietal arch toward the tympanum (absent in Emydura, not extending down the parietal arch in Elseya, Rheodytes and Elusor); ilium-carapace suture involves pleurals 7–8 and the pygal (as in Elusor but distinct from the condition in Elseya and Emydura); anterior bridge strut is confluent with the rib-gomphosis of pleural one; no angle of intersection between these two bony units when viewed ventrally (as in Elusor, but unlike Elseya, Emydura and Rheodytes – see Fig. 1 and 2 of Thomson, et al., 1997). |
| Comment | Type species: Elseya latisternum Gray, 1867 is also the type species of the genus Myuchelys THOMSON & GEORGES 2009 (partly based on a phylogenetic analysis in GEORGES & THOMSON 2006). Elseya latisternum is the type species of the new genus Wollumbinia WELLS 2007. VAN DIJK et al. (2011) considered the genus Wollumbinia as a nomen illegitum. The issue may only be resolved by the ICZN which does not have clear criteria for such cases (I. Smales, pers. comm., 4 March 2021, Cogger et al. 2017). Synonymy: following Gray (1872), Boulenger (1889), Georges & Thomson (2010), and Fritz & Havas (2007). Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic name Wollumbinia Wells 2007 invalid and rejected its use in favor of Myuchelys. |
| Etymology | The genus name is a combination of a contraction of the Aboriginal word for clear water, Myuna, and the Greek word for tortoises, chelys. It is a generalised reference to the types of habitat often preferred by the species of this genus. |
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