EMYSystem Text Only Species Page: Chelodina expansa


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order..........TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family...........Chelidae (Austro-American Side-necked Turtles)
subfamily.......Chelidinae ()
genus...............Chelodina (Snake-necked Turtles)
species..............Chelodina expansa (Giant Snake-necked Turtle)
Original Description
Gray 1857 : 370
Syntypes
(2 specimens) BMNH 1947.3.4.21; BMNH 1947.3.5.88
Type Locality
"Australia"; incorrectly restricted to "nördliches Australia" by Wermuth and Mertens (1977:122)
Original name
Chelodina expansa
Common Name
Giant Snake-necked Turtle
Distribution
Australia: Murray-Darling River system of South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland, and coastal basins of southeastern Queensland
Comments
Reviewed by Cogger et al. (1983). Geographic variation may be significant enough to warrant subspecies recognition (P. C. H. Pritchard, pers. comm.). With no justification, Wells and Wellington (1985:13) placed this species in their new genus Macrochelodina, which itself was not diagnosed.
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