Elseya albagula

Elseya albagula
Closeup of head, showing white throat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Pleurodira
Family: Chelidae
Genus: Elseya
Subgenus: Pelocomastes
Species:
E. albagula
Binomial name
Elseya albagula
Thomson, Georges & Limpus, 2006[1]
Synonyms[2][3][4]
  • Elseya albagula
    Thomson, Georges & Limpus, 2006
  • Elseya dentata albagula
    — Artner, 2008
  • Elseya albagula
    — Georges & Thomson, 2010

Elseya albagula, commonly known as the white-throated snapping turtle, is one of the largest species of chelid turtles in the world, growing to about 45 cm (18 in) carapace length.[1]

The species is endemic to south-eastern Queensland, Australia, in the Burnett, Mary, and Fitzroy River drainages. This species is entirely aquatic, rarely coming ashore and is chiefly herbivorous, feeding on the fruits and buds of riparian vegetation, algae, and large aquatic plants.[1]

First proposed as a species by John Goode in the 1960s,[5] it was finally described in 2006.[1] The species is named from the Latin alba = white and gula = throat, which is a reference to the white blotching present on the throats of adult females in the species.[1]

The type locality for the species is the Burnett River in south-eastern Queensland, but it is also found in the Mary and Fitzroy River drainages to the north of the Burnett.[1] Some have argued for each of these rivers to represent different species, but DNA, morphological, and morphometric analyses does not support this conclusion.[1][6]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Thomson, Scott; Georges, Arthur; Limpus, Colin J. (1 May 2006). "A New Species of Freshwater Turtle in the Genus Elseya (Testudines: Chelidae) from Central Coastal Queensland, Australia". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 5 (1): 74–86. doi:10.2744/1071-8443(2006)5[74:ANSOFT]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 53607183.
  2. ^ Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2): 327–328. ISSN 1864-5755. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. ^ Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk PP, Iverson JB, Rhodin AGJ, Shaffer HB, Bour R]. 2014. Turtles of the World, 7th edition: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution with maps, and conservation status. In: Rhodin AGJ, Pritchard PCH, van Dijk PP, Saumure RA, Buhlmann KA, Iverson JB, Mittermeier RA (Editors). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 5 (7): 000.329–479, doi:10.3854/ crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014.
  4. ^ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  5. ^ Goode J. 1967. Freshwater tortoises of Australia and New Guinea (in the family Chelidae). Melbourne: Landsdowne. 155 pp.
  6. ^ Georges, Arthur; Adams, Mark (November 1996). "Electrophoretic delineation of species boundaries within the short-necked freshwater turtles of Australia (Testudines: Chelidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 118 (3): 241–260. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1996.tb01266.x.