Myuchelys latisternum (GRAY, 1867)
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Myuchelys latisternum
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| Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Northern Australian Snapping Turtle, Saw-shelled Turtle |
| Synonym | Elseya latisternum GRAY 1867 Euchelymys spinosa GRAY 1871 Elseya latisternon — GRAY 1871 Emydura latisternum — BOULENGER 1889 Emydura signata AHL 1932 Emydura latisternum — WERMUTH & MERTENS 1977 Elseya latisternon — THIEME 1984 Elseya latisternum — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 42 Elseya latisternum — COGGER 2000: 194 Elseya latisternum — BONIN et al 2006 Elseya latisternum — FRITZ & HAVAS 2007 Wollumbinia latisternum — WELLS 2007 (unavailable name) Wollumbinia latisternum — HAMANN et al. 2008 Wollumbinia latisternum — WELLS 2009 Wollumbinia dorsii WELLS 2009 (fide THOMSON & GEORGES 2010) Wollumbinia spinosa — WELLS 2009 (unavailable name) Myuchelys latisternum — THOMSON & GEORGES 2009 Wollumbinia latisternum — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Myuchelys latisternum — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 Myochelys latisternum — VALVERDE 2010 (in error) Myuchelys latisternum — TTWG 2014: 434 Wollumbinia latisternum — COGGER 2014: 255 Wollumbinia latisternum — CANN & SADLIER 2017 Wollumbinia latisternum — SWAN et al. 2017 Myuchelys latisternum — THOMSON et al. 2021 Myuchelys latisternum — TTWG 2021 Myuchelys latisternum — TTWG 2025 |
| Distribution | NE Australia (from the Cape York Peninsula southward to northern New South Wales; Northern Territory, Queensland) Type locality: "North Australia”. dorsii: Australia (New South Wales); Type locality: Richmond River, near Wiangaree, New South Wales. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Syntypes: BMNH 67.5.13.19-20, Cape York Qld, collected by E. Dämel, purchased Museum Godeffroy. See Cann & Sadlier (2017) and SMales et al. 2019 for discussion of the identity of the type specimens. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.22.77 [Euchelymys spinosa] Holotype: AMS R172224, adult female in the Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW. Collected by Richard W. Wells on 6 December, 2008. The holotype was taken active at 1500 hrs in 1-2 metres water depth in a riffle zone over a mixed sediment bottom of basalt, sand and flood silt. [dorsii] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus Myuchelys): A member of the short-necked chelid turtles of the Australasian region which, excluding Pseudemydura umbrina (Siebenrock, 1901), together form a well-established clade (Georges & Adams, 1992; Georges, et al., 1998). Differs from other short-necked turtles of the clade in possessing the following combination of characters (Table 1): Absence of a well-developed alveolar ridge on the triturating surfaces and underlying bones of the jaw (Fig. 1B) (present only in the redefined Elseya, Fig. 1A); parietal arch of skull wide, nearly as wide as tympanum (Fig. 2) (narrower than the tympanum in Elseya and Emydura); large distinctive head shield, entire, that extends in part down the parietal arch toward the tympanum (absent in Emydura, not extending down the parietal arch in Elseya, Rheodytes and Elusor); ilium-carapace suture involves pleurals 7–8 and the pygal (as in Elusor but distinct from the condition in Elseya and Emydura); anterior bridge strut is confluent with the rib-gomphosis of pleural one; no angle of intersection between these two bony units when viewed ventrally (as in Elusor, but unlike Elseya, Emydura and Rheodytes – see Fig. 1 and 2 of Thomson, et al., 1997). Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 12647 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Type species: Elseya latisternum Gray, 1867 is also the type species of the genus Myuchelys THOMSON & GEORGES 2009 (partly based on a phylogenetic analysis in GEORGES & THOMSON 2006). Elseya latisternum is the type species of the new genus Wollumbinia WELLS 2007. VAN DIJK et al. (2011) considered the genus Wollumbinia as a nomen illegitum. The issue may only be resolved by the ICZN which does not have clear criteria for such cases (I. Smales, pers. comm., 4 March 2021, Cogger et al. 2017). Synonymy: following Gray (1872), Boulenger (1889), Georges & Thomson (2010), and Fritz & Havas (2007). Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic name Wollumbinia Wells 2007 invalid and rejected its use in favor of Myuchelys. Distribution: see map in TTWG 2025. |
| Etymology | The genus name is a combination of a contraction of the Aboriginal word for clear water, Myuna, and the Greek word for tortoises, chelys. It is a generalised reference to the types of habitat often preferred by the species of this genus. |
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