Chelodina kurrichalpongo (JOSEPH-OUNI, MCCORD, CANN & SMALES, 2019)
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Chelodina kurrichalpongo
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| Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: DARWIN SNAKE-NECKED TURTLE |
| Synonym | Macrochelodina kurrichalpongo JOSEPH-OUNI, MCCORD, CANN & SMALES 2019 Chelodina kurrichalpongo — TTWG 2021 |
| Distribution | Australia (Northern Territory) Type locality: McMinns Lagoon, Outer Darwin, Litchfield, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NTM R17209 (given as MAGNT = Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory) (Plate 1) an adult female collected on 7-12-1991 (collection coordinate listed as latitude -12.517, longitude 131.083). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A member of the genus Macrochelodina, within the 'rugosa complex' as defined above, that is characterized by the following combination of features: A relatively low, evenly rising, oval to pear-shaped carapace, often tapering strongly at the anterior in the area of M1- M3; a dark brown to jet black carapace with a somewhat rugose to dimpled texture; no vertebral keel present instead often forming a shallow but wide concavity (trough) down the midline of the vertebral scutes from the posterior of V1 to the anterior of V5; a relatively deep shell; the marginals lack serration; M1 and M2 nearly equal in surface area; a dark brown to grayish-black head background color that varies from uniform to heavily besotted throughout with black dots and with black outlining of the head scales; a dark blood-red l f l S circumscribed with a black ring and containing a golden to whitish-yellow iris ring around the pupil; an upper and lower jaw often heavily marked with dull brown blotches and dark vermiculation (Plate 3). Several lighter color phases are documented, as noted below (Plate 3). |
| Comment | Temporarily kept under Chelodina until the status of Macrochelodina has been resolved (PP van Dijk, pers. comm., 6 April 2020). The status of this species is somewhat questionable with weak morphological differences to the nearest congeners and limited sampling (Glenn Shea, pers. comm., 29 July 2023). Distribution: see map in Joseph-Ouni et al. 2019: 15 (Fig. 1) |
| Etymology | The species name references the Aboriginal Dreamtime creation mythology of the black rock-snake Kurrichalpongo, which laid eggs from which rainbow snakes hatched and carved out the rivers and the billabongs (Allan, Fleming & Kerrigan, 1999), made in triple allusion: One is to the long, black snake-like neck of this species, secondly to the multicolored hatchlings (color phases) it bears, and lastly to the carved out landscape of rivers and billabongs that it inhabits. |
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