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Podocnemis expansa (SCHWEIGGER, 1812)

IUCN Red List - Podocnemis expansa - Least Concern, LR
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Higher TaxaPodocnemididae, Pelomedusoidea, Pleurodira, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Arrau River Turtle, South American River Turtle
G: Arrau-Schienenschildkröte
Portuguese: Capitari, Tartaruga-da-Amazônia, Viração 
SynonymEmys expansa SCHWEIGGER 1812: 299
Emys amazonica SPIX 1824
Podocnemis expansa — WAGLER 1830: 135
Emys arrau SCHINZ 1833
Podocnemis Expansa — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 383
Emys amazonica — BAUR 1893: 213 (in part)
Podocnemis expansa — SIEBENROCK 1902: 106
Bartlettia pitipiti — WILLIAMS 1954:281 (in error)
Podocnemis expansa — FRAIR et al. 1978
Podocnemis expansa — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 26
Podocnemis expansa — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Podocnemis expansa — TTWG 2014
Podocnemis expansa — TTWG 2021 
DistributionBolivia (Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando, Santa Cruz), Brazil (Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins), Colombia (Amazonas, Arauca, Caquetá, Casanare, Guainía, Meta, Putumayo, Vaupés, Vichada), Ecuador, French Guiana (?), Guyana, Peru (Loreto, Ucayali), Trinidad (?), Venezuela (Amazonas, Anzoátegui, Apure, Bolívar, Delta Amacuro, Guárico, Monagas)

Type locality: South America.  
Reproductionoviparous. Exhibits temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Cornejo-Páramo et al. 2020 (and references therein). 
TypesLectotype: MNHN-RA 7997 (erroneously called 5997 by Bour 2006); paralectotypes: MNHN-RA 7893 and MNHN-RA 8359, Holotype: MNHN; lost (fide KING & BURKE 1989). For lectotype designation see Bour (2006). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (3958 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSee also note on Podocnemis unifilis.

Synonymy: after Iverson et al. 2017. BAUR (1893) erroneously considered Emys amazonica as a synonym of Podocnemis sextuberculata.

Type species: Emys expansa SCHWEIGGER 1812: 299 is the type species of the genus Podocnemis WAGLER 1830: 135.

Key: Ernst & Barbour 1989: 24 provide a key to the species of Podocnemis and a table with characters for the 6 species.

Habitat: freshwater (Rivers and tributaries)

Karyotype: 2n = 28 (Ares et al., 1969; Huang and Clark, 1969; Rhodin et al., 1978; Bull and Legler,1980). 
EtymologyPossibly named after the elongated skull, the single, large scale between the orbits, or the large size.

The genus is named after Greek pous (genitive podos) = the foot and Greek knemis = legging, a greave, armour between knee and ankle; an allusion to the enlarged scales at the back of each leg. 
References
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  • Bonach, K., C.I. Piña & L.M. Verdade 2006. Allometry of reproduction of Podocnemis expansa in Southern Amazon basin Amphibia-Reptilia, 27(1): 55-61. - 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.
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  • Cantarelli, Vitor Hugo; Adriana Malvasio, and Luciano M. Verdade 2014. Brazil's Podocnemis expansa Conservation Program: Retrospective and Future Directions. Chelonian Conservation and Biology Jul 2014, Vol. 13, No. 1: 124-128. - get paper here
  • Carneiro, Cristiane Costa and Juarez Pezzuti. 2015. Podocnemis expansa (giant Amazon River turtle) post-reproductive migration. Herpetological Review 46 (2): 244-245 - get paper here
  • Cisneros-Heredia, D.F. 2006. Turtles of the Tiputini Biodiversity Station with remarks on the diversity and distribution of the Testudines from Ecuador. Biota Neotropica 6 (1): 1-16 - get paper here
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  • Cornejo-Páramo, P., Lira-Noriega, A., Ramírez-Suástegui, C. et al. 2020. Sex determination systems in reptiles are related to ambient temperature but not to the level of climatic fluctuation. BMC Evol Biol 20: 103 - get paper here
  • Cunha, Fabio Andrew G. and Vogt, Richard C. 2017. Podocnemis expansa (Giant South American River Turtle) Predation. Herpetological Review 48 (1): 179-180 - get paper here
  • Da Costa, J F; Lopes, O R & Vogt, R C 2018. Podocnemis expansa (Giant South American River Turtle) Predation. Herpetological Review 49 (2): 322-323 - get paper here
  • Da Cunha, Fernando Lima Rodrigues, Rafael Bernhard and Richard C. Vogt. 2014. Podocnemis erythrocephala, Podocnemis expansa, Podocnemis sextuberculata, Podocnemis unifilis (red-headed Amazon River turtle, giant South American River turtle, six-tubercled Amazon River turtle, yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle) coexistence. Herpetological Review 45 (2): 319 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., and G. Bibron. 1835. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles, Vol. 2. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 680 p. - get paper here
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  • FAGUNDES, CAMILA K.; MARCOS AMEND & CAMILA R. FERRARA. 2016. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to study a freshwater turtle population in the brazilian amazon. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 17(1): 43–50. - get paper here
  • Fantin, Cleiton; Jorge Ferreira, Mara Magalhães, Thais da Silva Damasseno, Dorothy Ivila de Melo Pereira, and Richard Carl Vogt 2017. Kinship Analysis of Offspring of the Giant South American River Turtle (Podocnemis expansa) Using Microsatellite DNA Markers. Chelonian Conservation and Biology Dec 2017, Vol. 16, No. 2: 123-127. - get paper here
  • Ferrara, C.R., R.C. Vogt, R.S. Sousa-Lima, B.M.R. Tardio & V.C.D. Bernardes 2014. Sound Communication and Social Behavior in an Amazonian River Turtle (Podocnemis expansa) Herpetologica 70 (2): 149-156. - get paper here
  • Forero, German, Camila Ferrara and Brian D. Horne. 2014. Forst international workshop for conservation of the Giant South American River Turtle. Turtle Survival 2014: 18-19 - get paper here
  • Forero-Medina, G., Ferrara, C., Vogt, R., Fagundes, C., Balestra, R., Andrade, P., . . . Horne, B. 2021. On the future of the giant South American river turtle Podocnemis expansa. Oryx, 55 (1): 73-80 - get paper here
  • Frair, W.; Mittermeier, R.A.; Rhodin, A.G.J. 1978. Blood biochemistry and relations among Podocnemis turtles (Pleurodira, Pelomedusidae). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 61B: 139-143 - get paper here
  • Gaffney, Eugene S.; Peter A. Meylan, Roger C. Wood, Elwyn Simons, and Diogenes De Almeida Campos 2011. Evolution of the Side-Necked Turtles: The Family Podocnemididae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (350): 1-237 - get paper here
  • Gonzalez R. C. et al. 2020. Lista dos Nomes Populares dos Répteis no Brasil – Primeira Versão. Herpetologia Brasileira 9 (2): 121 – 214 - get paper here
  • Gorzula, Stefan & Senaris, J. Celsa 1999. In: Contribution to the herpetofauna of the Venezuelan Guayana. I: a data base. Scientia Guaianae, Caracas, No. 8 [1998], 269+ pp.; ISBN 980-6020-48-0
  • Herz, M. 2014. Begegnungen mit Schildkröten im venezolanischen Bundesstaat Amazonas. Teil 1: Wasserschildkröten. Reptilia (Münster) 19 (110): 52-59
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  • Jaffé, Rodolfo; Claudia Peñaloza, and Guillermo R. Barreto 2008. Monitoring an Endangered Freshwater Turtle Management Program: Effects of Nest Relocation on Growth and Locomotive Performance of the Giant South American Turtle (Podocnemis expansa, Podocnemididae). Chelonian Conservation and Biology 7(2): 213 - get paper here
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  • Magalhães, Marcela S.; Richard C. Vogt, José Fernando M. Barcellos, Carlos Eduardo B. Moura, and Ronis Da Silveira 2014. Morphology of the Digestive Tube of the Podocnemididae in the Brazilian Amazon. Herpetologica Dec 2014, Vol. 70, No. 4: 449-463. - get paper here
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  • Vaz-Silva, W.; RM Oliveira, AFN Gonzaga, KC Pinto, FC Poli, TM Bilce, M Penhacek, L Wronski, JX Martins, TG Junqueira, LCC, Cesca VY, Guimarães RD. Pinheiro 2015. Contributions to the knowledge of amphibians and reptiles from Volta Grande do Xingu, northern Brazil Braz. J. Biol., 75 (3) (suppl.): S205-S218 - get paper here
  • VEIGA CONRADO, ANDRÉ LUIZ; ALEX CICINATO PAULINO DE OLIVEIRA, LUCIANA DOS SANTOS MEDEIROS, TIAGO LUCENA DA SILVA & YURI KARACCAS DE CARVALHO. 2022. Iron deposition in the liver and guts of giant South American freshwater turtle Podocnemis expansa (Schweigger 1812) from a commercial breeding farm in Acre, Brazil. Multidisciplinary Science Journal 4(4): e2022020–e2022020. - get paper here
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