Elseya irwini CANN, 1997

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Higher Taxa	Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Irwin's Turtle
Synonym	Elseya stirlingi WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 9 (nomen dubium) Elseya irwini CANN 1997 Elseya irwini — COGGER 2000: 739 Elseya stirlingi — WELLS 2002 Elseya dentata irwini — ARTNER 2008 Elseya irwini — THOMSON et al. 2006 Elseya stirlingi — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Elseya irwini — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Elseya irwini — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 Elseya (Pelocomastes) irwini — THOMSON et al. 2015 Elseya (Pelocomastes) irwini — TTWG 2017: 195 Elseya irwini — TTWG 2021
Distribution	Australia (CE Queensland) irwini: Queensland; Type locality: Burdekin River, Queensland, 19°42'S, 147°18'E, approximately 18 km upstream from Ayr (Google Maps ~ -19.771900, 147.237678) stirlingi: Type locality: South Johnstone River, Qld (17° 38’ S, 145° 05’ E).
Reproduction	oviparous.
Types	Holotype: QM J59431 Holotype: AM R68848 (reregistered as: R93048); Wells 2007 mentions QM 48059 as another type [stirlingi]
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Elseya irwini is a large species of turtle known so far only from the Burdekin River. It is most similar to Eiseya dentata in overall size and morphology, but is readily distinguished from all populations of that species, and other species of Eiseya, by the female's pale, primitively white head and yellowish horny sheath on the crown. The population of Eiseya dentata from the Victoria River, Northern Territory, also has some white marking on the face of mature individuals, but this is confined to the region of the face and neck and does not extend dorsally onto the horny sheath at the top of the head. Additional details (2605 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	First described in the magazine Monitor, not subject to peer review; later reproduced in a more widely available book (Cann, 1998) Synonymy: Elseya stirlingi is an unavailable name for E. irwini (S. Thomson, pers. comm., 12 Sep 2014). Elseya stirlingi Wells, 2002 is either a junior subjective homonym or an unavailable name (S. Thomson, pers. comm., 21 Dec 2014, 25 Sep 2015). Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps)
Etymology	Named for Bob Irwin of Beerwah, Queensland, who is one of the proprietors of Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, at Beerwah (together with Steve Irwin).
References	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. Bour, R. 2008. Global diversity of turtles (Chelonii; Reptilia) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:593–598 - get paper here Cann, John 1997. Irwin's turtle, Elseya irwini sp. nov. Monitor: Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society. 9 (1): 36-40 Cann, John 1998. Australian Freshwater Turtles. Beaumont Publishing, Singapore: 292 pp. 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. Freeman, Alastair B.; Carla Eisemberg, and Henry Stoetzel 2018. Habitat Use and Movements in an Upland Population of Johnstone River Snapping Turtles, Elseya irwini. Herp. Cons. Biol. 13 (2): 464–472 - 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 Thomson, S.; Amepou, Y., Anamiato, J. & Georges, A. 2015. A new species and subgenus of Elseya (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from New Guinea. Zootaxa 4006 (1): 059–082 - get paper here Thomson, Scott, Arthur Georges and Colin J. Limpus 2006. A new species of freshwater turtle in the genus Elseya (Testudines: Chelidae) from Central Coastal Queensland, Australia. Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 5 (1): 74-86. - get paper here TTWG; Anders G.J. Rhodin, John B. iverson, Roger Bour, Uwe Fritz, Arthur GeoRges, H. BRadley Shaffer, and Peter Paul van Dijk 2017. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (8th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Ed Chelonian Research Monographs 7:1–292. doi: 10.3854/crm.7.checklist.atlas.v8.2017 - 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 Turner, Grant S. 2011. Hypomelanism in Irwin's Turtle, Elseya irwini, from the Johnstone River, North Queensland, Australia. Chelonian Conservation and Biology Dec 2011, Vol. 10, No. 2: 275-281. - get paper here TURNER, GRANT STEPHEN. 2022. ELSEYA IRWINII (Johnstone River Snapping Turtle). NEST DISTURBANCE, EGG SUBMERGENCE, and EGG VIABILITY. Herpetological Review 53 (1): 116–117. VILLACORTA-RATH, CECILIA; THOMAS ESPINOZA, BERNIE COCKAYNE, JASON SCHAFFER & DAMIEN BURROWS. 2022. Environmental DNA analysis confirms extant populations of the cryptic Irwin’s turtle within its historical range. BMC Ecology and Evolution 22(1): 57. - get paper here Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
External links	National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/chelidae.pdf http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Testudines/Cheluidae/Elseya/irwini Google images

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