Southern New Guinea giant softshell turtle | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Family: | Trionychidae |
Genus: | Pelochelys |
Species: | P. bibroni
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Binomial name | |
Pelochelys bibroni (Owen, 1853)
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Synonyms[3] | |
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The southern New Guinea giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys bibroni) is a species of softshell turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is endemic to the lowlands of southern New Guinea with occasional vagrant individuals sighted off the coast of northern Australia.[1][4] There is no confirmed Australian record.[1] P. bibroni is referred to by the Suki people as kiya eise, a reference to its flexible shell. In the Arammba language, it is called sokrere, meaning "earthquake".[5] It is sometimes hunted by local villages for its meat and/or eggs, leading to some cases of chelonitoxism.[6]