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Chelodina rugosa OGILBY, 1889

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Higher TaxaChelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesNorth Australian Snake-necked Turtle (siebenorcki: Siebenrock’s Snake-necked Turtle; oblonga: Narrow-breasted Snake-necked Turtle) 
SynonymChelodina rugosa OGILBY 1889
Chelodina rugosa OGILBY 1890: 56
Chelodina siebenrocki WERNER 1901: 602
Chelodina oblonga — SIEBENROCK 1905
Chelodina intergularis FRY 1915
Chelodina siebenrocki — DE ROOIJ 1915: 316
Chelodina rugosa — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977
Chelodina billabong — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 (nomen nudum)
Chelodina siebenrocki — ALDERTON 1988
Chelodina rugosa — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989
Chelodina rugosa — COGGER 2000: 192
Chelodina oblonga — COGGER 2000: 192
Chelodina siebenrocki — ISKANDAR & ERDELEN 2006
Chelodina rugosa — BONIN et al 2006
Chelodina siebenrocki — BONIN et al 2006
Macrochelodina rugosa — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007
Chelodina rugosa — ALACS et al. 2009
Chelodina (Macrochelodina) rugosa — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010
Chelodina oblonga — WILSOIN & SWAN 2010
Chelodina siebenrocki — AUER 2011
Chelodina (Macrochelodina) oblonga — TTWG 2014
Chelodina siebenrocki — CANN & SADLIER 2017
Chelodina rugosa — KEHLMAIER et al. 2019
Chelodina (Chelydera) rugosa — SHEA et al. 2020
Chelodina rugosa — TTWG 2021 
DistributionN Australia (from the Cape York Peninsula westward to the Kimberley District of W Australia; Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)

Type locality: Cape York, Qld.

intergularis: Type locality: vicinity of Somerset, at the northern extremity of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia (Kehlmaier et al. 2024)

oblonga: SW-W Australia; Type locality: Western Australia.

siebenrocki: New Guinea (southern coast west of the Fly River, certain islands in the Torres Strait); type locality; Papua New Guinea.  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1947.3.5.89 (formerly 40.12.9.81); MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI (2007) designate Gray’s 1856 C. colliei lectotype (THOMSON, 2000; BMNH 1947.3.5.91) as the neotype of C. oblonga. However, McCord and Joseph-Ouni’s (2007) neotype designation for C. oblonga is invalid under the ICZN Code (see discussion in KUCHLING 2010)
Types: AMS [intergularis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus Macrochelodina): “Macrochelodina is differentiated by having a generally broader head, a longer thicker neck with less obvious tubercles, and a narrower plastron” (fide MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2007; although this is a pretty useless diagnosis).


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CommentSynonymy mostly after GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 and S. Thomson, pers. comm., 27 May 2021. Kehlmair et al. 2019 determined that Chelodina oblonga is a nomen dubium and thus Chelodina rugosa is the correct name. However, Shea et al. resurrected C. oblonga, see that entry. C. siebenrocki is retained as a synonym by the Australian Society of Herpetology despite the fact that some authors considered it as valid. Depending on the species concept used, Chelodina rugosa and Chelodina burrungandjii can hybridized in their contact zone. See comments in the ASH List of 2022. Kehlmaier et al. 2024 concluded that the exceptional arrangement of intergular and gular scutes in the holotype of C. intergularis is an individual aberration. In conjunction with mtDNA sequences they confirm that intergularis is a synonym of rugosa.

Type species: Chelodina oblonga is the type species of the genus Macrochelodina Wells and Wellington, 1985. Chelodina oblonga is also the type species of the genus Macrodiremys MCCORD & JOSEPH-OUNI 2007. Macrodiremys is a synonym of Macrochelodina, fide Shea et al. 2020.

Types: Note that FRITZ (2008) rejected the lectotype designation of Chelodina oblonga by McCord & Joseph-Ouni (2007) as invalid. See Kuchling (2010) for a more detailed discussion.

Habitat: freshwater (rivers, swamps) 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin rugosus (rough), in reference to the carapace texture. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • ALACS, E.A.; M. J. HILLYER, A. GEORGES, N. N. FITZSIMMONS and J. M. HUGHES 2009. Development of microsatellite markers in the Australasian snake-necked turtle Chelodina rugusa [sic] and cross-species amplification. Molecular Ecology Resources 9: 350–353 - get paper here
  • Alderton, D. 1988. Turtles and tortoises of the world. Facts on File, New York.
  • Auer, Markus 2011. Beobachtungen zu Vorkommen und Handel von Schildkröten in Nordlaos. Sauria, Berlin 33 (1): 3-11 - 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. Kuchlings long-neck turtle, Chelodina kuchlingi sp. nov. Monitor: Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society 9 (1): 41-44.
  • 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.
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp. - get paper here
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  • Fritz, U. 2008. Comment on the proposed precedence of Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines) over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841 (Case 3351; see BZN 63: 187–193, 64: 68, 127–128). Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 65 (1): - get paper here
  • Fry, Dene B. 1915. On a new Chelodina from Australia, with a key to the genus. Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 27: 88–90. - get paper here
  • Gaffney, Eugene S. 1977. The side-necked turtle family Chelidae: a theory of relationships using shared derived characters. American Museum Novitates (2620): 1-28 - 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
  • Georges, A.; J. Birrell, K. M. Saint, W. McCord und S. C. Donnellan 1998. A phylogeny for side-necked turtles (Chelonia: Pleurodira) based on mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequence variation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 67: 213-246 [1999] - get paper here
  • Georges, Arthur, Carla Eisemberg, Yolarnie Amepou and Eric Manasi. 2014. Turtle conservation challenges in papua New Guinea. Turtle Survival 2014: 22-24 - get paper here
  • Grace, J. 1997. Captive breeding of the Black-headed python, Aspidites melanocephalus. Monitor: Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society. 9 (1): 8-9
  • Gray, J.E. 1841. A catalogue of the species of reptiles and Amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some new species from Western Australia. Appendix E, pp. 422-449. In: G. Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in Northwest T. and W. Boone, London. Vol. 2: 422-449 + plates - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1856. On some new species freshwater tortoises from North America, Ceylon and Australia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 18: 263-268 - get paper here
  • ICZN 2013. OPINION 2315 (Case 3351) Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines): precedence not granted over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 70 (1): 57-60 - get paper here
  • Iskandar, Djoko T. and Walter R. Erdelen 2006. Conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Indonesia: issues and problems. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 4 (1): 60-87 - get paper here
  • Iverson, John B., Scott A. Thomson and Arthur Georges 2001. Validity of taxonomic changes for turtles proposed by Wells and Wellington. Journal of Herpetology 35 (3): 361-368 - get paper here
  • KEHLMAIER, C., KUCHLING, G., SHEA, G., GEORGES, A., ZHANG, X., FRITZ, U., & THOMSON, S. 2024. History and historical DNA: Identity of Chelodina intergularis Fry, 1915 and type localities of C. intergularis and C. rugosa Ogilby, 1890. Zootaxa, 5448(4), 531-555
  • 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
  • Kennett, R. 1996. Growth Models for Two Species of Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina rugosa and Elseya dentata, from the Wet-Dry Tropics of Northern Australia Herpetologica 52 (3): 383-395. - get paper here
  • Kennett, R. & O. Tory 1996. Diet of two freshwater turtles, Chelodina rugosa and Elseya dentata (Testudines: Cheliidae) from the West-Dry Tropics of Northern Australia Copeia 1996 (2): 409-419. - get paper here
  • Kuchling, G. 2010. Taxonomy and nomenclature of the longneck turtle (genus Chelodina) from south-western Australia. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 25 (4): 449–454 - get paper here
  • Kuchling, Gerald 2013. A turtle trying to keep its head above water in the Land Down Under. The Tortoise 1 (2): 98-107.
  • Mazzoleni, Sofia; Barbora Augstenová, Lorenzo Clemente, Markus Auer, Uwe Fritz, Peter Praschag, Tomáš Protiva, Petr Velenský, Lukáš Kratochvíl & Michail Rovatsos 2020. Sex is determined by XX/XY sex chromosomes in Australasian side-necked turtles (Testudines: Chelidae). Sci Rep 10: 4276 - get paper here
  • McCord, W. P., and M. Joseph-Ouni. 2007. A New Genus of Australian Longneck Turtle (Testudines: Chelidae) and a New Species of Macrochelodina from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia (Australia). Reptilia (GB) (53): 56-64 - get paper here
  • Ogilby, J.D. 1890. Description of a new Australian tortoise. Rec. Austral. Mus. 1: 56-59 - get paper here
  • Rhodin,A.G.J. & Mittermeier,R.A. 1976. Chelodina parkeri, a new species of chelid turtle from New Guinea, with a discussion of Chelodina siebenrocki Werner 1901. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 147 (11): 465-488 - get paper here
  • Savage, Jay M. 2007. Comment on the proposed precedence of Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines) over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 64 (1) - get paper here
  • Seddon, J. M.;Georges, A.;Baverstock, P. R.;McCord, W. 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of chelid turtles (Pleurodira: Chelidae) based on mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene sequence variation. Mol Phylogenet Evol 7 (1): 55-61 - get paper here
  • SHEA, GLENN; SCOTT THOMSON & ARTHUR GEORGES 2020. The identity of Chelodina oblonga Gray 1841 (Testudines: Chelidae) reassessed. Zootaxa 4779 (3): 419–437 - get paper here
  • Siebenrock, F. 1905. Chelonologische Notizen. Zool. Anz. 29: 460-468 - get paper here
  • Thomson, S. A. 2006. Case 3351. Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines): proposed precedence over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 63: 187-193. - get paper here
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  • TTWG [Peter Paul van Dijk, John B. Iverson, Anders G.J. Rhodin, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Roger Bour] 2014. Turtles of the World, 7th Edition: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution with Maps, and Conservation Status. 000.v7. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014 - get paper here
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  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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