Chelodina parkeri RHODIN & MITTERMEIER, 1976
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Chelodina parkeri
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| Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Parker’s Snake-necked Turtle |
| Synonym | Chelodina parkeri RHODIN & MITTERMEIER 1976 Chelodina parkeri — FRITZ & JAUCH 1989 Macrochelodina parkeri — IVERSON et al. 2001 Macrochelodina parkeri — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007 Chelodina (Macrochelodina) parkeri — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 Chelodina (Macrochelodina) parkeri — TTWG 2014 Chelodina (Chelydera) parkeri — SHEA et al. 2020 Chelodina parkeri — TTWG 2021 |
| Distribution | New Guinea (Lakes Murray and Balimo, Fly and Aramia rivers, Western District's savannah regions north of the Fly River) Type locality: Mawa, Lake Murray, Western District, Papua New Guinea. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: AMS 21425 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (subgenus Chelydera): Large riverine turtles; carapace broadly oval with noticeable flaring about marginal scutes 8–10; plastron narrow, covering only about half of the anterior orifice of the shell in ventral view; plastron of moderate length, approximately twice as long as its width measured anterior to the bridge; head and neck longer than carapace; intergular scute rhomboid in shape with width approximately equal to length. Neck dorsum finely reticulated, lacking obvious tubercles. Osteologically, atlas (C1) elongated; cervical vertebrae 2–4 greatly elongated (centrum about three times as long as wide); transverse processes of cervical vertebrae thickened, not bladelike as in subgenera Chelodina and Macrochelodina. Skull dorsoventrally flattened, in some species also laterally expanded, resulting in antero-posterior enlargement of palatines. Hyolaryngeal assemblage highly modified; extreme elongation of corpus hyoideum along sulcus tracheae; anterior cornubranchiale expanded, elongated, extending beyond posterior cornubranchiale; epibranchials fully ossified in adults, cartilaginous throughout life in species of the other subgenera. Anterior bridge struts enlarged; suture with pleural 1 extends half-way across pleural; proximal suture of strut enlarged and also contacts 2nd pleural in very large specimens; posterior bridge strut enlarged and thickened, but does not contact pleurals; ilium sutures with 8th pleural and pygal and is latero-posteriorly rotated. Exposed neural bones usually absent (except for Chelodina burrungandjii, typically with 3–6 exposed neurals; Smales 2019). Fluid from ducts in the inguinal and axillary pockets with noticeable odour, but not pungent (Shea et al. 2020: 430). |
| Comment | Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps) Type Species: Chelodina parkeri Rhodin & Mittermeier 1976 is the type species of the subgenus Chelydera Thomson and Georges in Shea et al. 2020. |
| Etymology | Named after Fred Parker, Indian-born Australian herpetologist. The name Chelydera is a combination of the Greek χέλυς/χέλυδρος (chelys/chelydros), meaning both a turtle (cf. the similarly snake-necked turtle genus Chelus Duméril 1806) and a water snake, and δειρή (deire), the neck (f.) (Liddell & Scott 1897; Brown 1956). This is in reference to the common name for this group, the snake-necked turtles. Shea et al. 2020 use a feminine name for the subgenus to agree with Chelodina, to avoid a change in gender of any adjectival specific epithets if Chelydera is treated as generically distinct by some authors. |
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