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Myuchelys bellii (GRAY, 1844)

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Higher TaxaChelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Sawshelled Turtle, Bells’ Turtle 
SynonymPhrynops bellii GRAY 1844: 41
Hydraspis bellii —GRAY 1856
Elseya bellii — CANN 1998
Elseya dorriani WELLS 2002 (nom. nud. fide FRITZ & HAVAS 2007)
Phrynops belli — GEORGES & THOMSON in MERRICK et al. 2006
Elseya bellii — BONIN et al 2006: 45
Elseya bellii — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007
Wollumbinia bellii — WELLS 2007
Elseya latisternum bellii — ARTNER 2008
Wollumbinia bellii — WELLS 2009
Wollumbinia bellii dorriani — WELLS 2009
Myuchelys bellii — THOMSON & GEORGES 2009
Wollumbinia bellii — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Myuchelys bellii — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010
Myuchelys bellii — TTWG 2014: 434
Wollumbinia bellii — COGGER 2014: 255
Wollumbinia bellii — CANN & SADLIER 2017
Wollumbinia bellii — SWAN et al. 2017
Wollumbinia bellii — SWAN 2020
Myuchelys bellii — THOMSON et al. 2021
Myuchelys bellii — TTWG 2021 
DistributionAustralia (NE New South Wales)

Type locality: Restricted by Cann 1998 to the “upper reaches of the both Namoi-MacDonald and Gwydir Rivers, above
the New England escarpment, New South Wales.”; validated as Namoi River by Kehlmair et al. 2019.

dorriani: Australia (SE Queensland: Bald Rock Creek)  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: OUM 8460 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (829 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
Comment 
EtymologyNamed after Thomas Bell (1792-1880), a British naturalist and dental surgeon who worked at Guy's Hospital, London (1816-1860). He became Professor of Zoology at King's College (1834) and described many ofthe reptiles Darwin collected. He was a friend ofGray and President of the Linnean Society (Beolens et al. 2011).  
References
  • Artner, H. 2008. The world's extant turtle species, Part 1. Emys 15 (3): 4-32
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - 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.
  • Cann, John 1998. Australian Freshwater Turtles. Beaumont Publishing, Singapore: 292 pp.
  • Cann, John; Ross Sadlier 2017. FRESHWATER TURTLES OF AUSTRALIA. CSIRO Publishing, 464 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Fielder, Darren 2013. Ancient Phenotypes Revealed Through Present Day Species—A Morphological Analysis of Australia's Saw-Shelled Turtles Including the Threatened Myuchelys bellii (Testudines: Chelidae). Chelonian Conservation and Biology Jul 2013, Vol. 12, No. 1: 101-111. - get paper here
  • Fielder, Darren; Bruce chessman, and Arthur GeorGes 2015. Myuchelys bellii (Gray 1844) – Western Saw-shelled Turtle, Bell’s Turtle. Chelonian Research Monographs 5(8):088.1–7, doi:10.3854/crm.5.088.bellii.v1.2015 - get paper here
  • Fritz, U. & Havas, P. 2007. CHECKLIST OF CHELONIANS OF THE WORLD. Vertebrate Zoology 57(2): 149-368 - 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
  • Gray, J.E. 1844. Catalogue of Tortoises, Crocodilians, and Amphisbaenians in the Collection of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History), London. viii + 80 p. - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1856. Catalogue of Shield Reptiles in the Collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). British Museum, London, 79 pp. [1855] - get paper here
  • HUGHES, G. N., A. CURTSDOTTER, P. F. LAGOS, AND P. G. MCDONALD 2020. Myuchelys bellii (Bell’s Turtle). Unexpected Dietary Contents. Herpetological Review 51: 579-580.
  • Hughes, Geoffrey N.; Adrienne Burns & Paul G. McDonald 2022. Nesting Refuge Structures Are Ineffective at Protecting Bell's Turtle (Myuchelys bellii) Nests from Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) Depredation Chelonian Conservation and Biology Jun 2022 Vol. 21, No. 1: 98-105 - get paper here
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • 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
  • Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp.
  • Swan, M. 2020. Frogs and reptiles of the Murray-Darling Basin. A guide to their identification, ecology and conservation. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South, Victoria, 2020. 352 pages. ISBN 9781486311323 - get paper here
  • Thomson, R. C., Spinks, P. Q., & Shaffer, H. B. 2021. A global phylogeny of turtles reveals a burst of climate-associated diversification on continental margins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (7) - get paper here
  • Thomson, S. & Georges, A. 2009. Myuchelys gen. nov. —a new genus for Elseya latisternum and related forms of Australian freshwater turtle (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae). Zootaxa 2053: 32-42 - 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
  • Wells, R. W. 2007. Some taxonomic and nomenclatural considerations on the class Reptilia in Australia. A new genus of the family Chelidae from eastern Australia. Australian Biodiversity Record (3): 1–13 - get paper here
  • Wells, R.W. 2002. Taxonomic notes on some Australian freshwater turtles of the genera Chelodina and Elseya (Reptilia: Chelidae). Australian Biodiversity Record (2): 1–30. - get paper here
  • Wells, Richard W. 2009. Some Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Considerations on the Class Reptilia in Australia. A New Species of Freshwater Turtle in the Genus Wollumbinia Wells 2007 (Reptilia: Chelidae) from Eastern Australia. Australian Biodiversity Record (1): 1-12
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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