Myuchelys georgesi (CANN, 1997)
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Higher Taxa | Chelidae, Chelodininae, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Bellinger River Turtle, Georges’ Turtle |
Synonym | Elseya georgesi CANN 1997 Elseya georgesi — COGGER 2000: 738 Elseya georgesi — BONIN et al 2006 Wollumbinia georgesi — WELLS 2007 Elseya latisternum georgesi — ARTNER 2008 Wollumbinia georgesi — WELLS 2009 Myuchelys georgesi — THOMSON & GEORGES 2009 Wollumbinia georgesi — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Myuchelys georgesi — GEORGES & THOMSON 2010 Myuchelys georgesi — TTWG 2014: 434 Wollumbinia georgesi — COGGER 2014: 255 Wollumbinia georgesi — CANN & SADLIER 2017 Wollumbinia georgesi — SWAN et al. 2017 Wollumbinia georgesi — SWAN 2020 Myuchelys georgesi — THOMSON et al. 2021 Myuchelys georgesi — TTWG 2021 |
Distribution | Australia (NE New South Wales) Type locality: Bellinger River 30°25'S, 152°46'E. |
Reproduction | |
Types | Holotype: AMS (AM) R31721 adult female, measuring 222 mm carapace length, collected by J. Cann in 1971. Paratypes: A. M. R3 1719 adult male; AMS (AM) R143552 (shell); Q.M.559430 (formerly A.M. R31720) adult female; Q.M. 559425 (formerly AM R31722) adult male. All paratypes same data as holotype. |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Elseya georgesi is a moderately large species of turtle known only from the Bellinger River and its tributaries on the northeast coast of New South Wales. This species is most similar to Elseya purvisi wells & Wellington and those species of Elseya currently included in, or allied to Elseya latisternum. It can be distinguished from E. latisternum and Elseya sp. from the Namoi River by the presence of a pale (yellow in life) band of colour on the side of the head and neck, a marbled light plastron with a greenish blue tinge, unlike E. puwisi which is predominantly yellow, and the absence of a central groove on the carapace. It is most similar to Elseya purvisi from the Manning River, and can only readily be distinguished by the pattern of colour on the throat and tail. E. georgesi does not have a dark marking running down the centre of the throat or tail, whereas in E. puwisi these features are present. |
Comment | Synonymy: Might be synonymous to E. purvisi WELLS & WELLINGTON (1985) from which it differs “in a number of subtle colour differences... including a black horizontal bar through the eye” (which purvisi has but georgesi lacks; COGGER 2000). Myuchelys purvisi and M. georgesi are cryptic species (Georges & Adams, 1996; Thomson & Georges, 1996) differing overtly only in intensity of colouration |
Etymology | Named after Arthur Georges (b. 1953), a freshwater turtle expert at the University of Canberra, Australia. |
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