EMYSystem Text Only Species Page: Elseya dentata


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order..........TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family...........Chelidae (Austro-American Side-necked Turtles)
subfamily.......Chelidinae ()
genus...............Elseya (Australian Snapping Turtles)
species..............Elseya dentata (Northern Australian Snapping Turtle)
Original Description
Gray 1863b : 98
Syntypes
(2 specimens) BMNH 1947.3.6.2; BMNH 1947.3.6.3
Type Locality
"N. Australia [Northern Territory]; Upper Victoria [River], in Beagle's Valley"
Original name
Chelymys dentata
Common Name
Northern Australian Snapping Turtle
Distribution
Australia: eastern Queensland (including Burnett and Fitzroy river basins), the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, and Arnhem Land, Northern Territory to the Kimberley district, Western Australia
Comments
Synonymy should include Platemys novaeguineae Meyer (1874; = Elseya novaeguineae) according to McDowell (1983), but a more thorough study is needed. Reviewed by Cogger et al. (1983). This taxon is apparently a composite of several distinct species according to John Legler (pers. comm.) and Georges and Adams (1989). Wells and Wellington (1985:12) named the Queensland population Elseya sterlingi, but without diagnosis or adequate description; they also designated BMNH 1947.3.6.3 as lectotype.
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