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Turtles are diapsids of the order Testudines characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield. "Turtle" may refer to the order as a whole or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling testudines. The order Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct species. The earliest known members of this group date from the Middle Jurassic, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups and a more ancient group than snakes or crocodilians. Of the 356 known species alive today, some are highly endangered.
The Chelidae are one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira and are commonly called the Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South America. It is a large family of turtles with a significant fossil history dating back to the Cretaceous. The family is entirely Gondwanan in origin, with no members found outside Gondwana, either in the present day or as a fossil.
The Arakan forest turtle is a rare turtle species which lives only in the Arakan Hills of western Myanmar and the bordering Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The Arakan forest turtle is a semiterrestrial turtle, meaning it can survive in aquatic as well as terrestrial habitats, but as adults, they prefer living in terrestrial habitats.
The eastern long-necked turtle is an east Australian species of snake-necked turtle that inhabits a wide variety of water bodies and is an opportunistic feeder. It is a side-necked turtle (Pleurodire), meaning that it bends its head sideways into its shell rather than pulling it directly back.
Chelodina, collectively known as snake-necked turtles, is a large and diverse genus of long-necked chelid turtles with a complicated nomenclatural history. Although in the past Macrochelodina and Macrodiremys have been considered separate genera and prior to that all the same, they are now considered subgenera of the Chelodina.
The Asian giant softshell turtle, also known as Cantor's giant softshell turtle and the frog-faced softshell turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is native to Southeast Asia. It has been considered to be among the largest extant freshwater turtles. The species is endangered and in the 20th century has disappeared from much of its former range.
Macrochelys is a genus of very large freshwater turtles in the family Chelydridae from Southeastern United States. Only a single extant species was recognized until a 2014 study divided it into several species.
Functional extinction is the extinction of a species or other taxon such that:
- It disappears from the fossil record, or historic reports of its existence cease;
- The reduced population no longer plays a significant role in ecosystem function; or
- The population is no longer viable. There are no individuals able to reproduce, or the small population of breeding individuals will not be able to sustain itself due to inbreeding depression and genetic drift, which leads to a loss of fitness.
The western swamp turtle, also known as the western swamp tortoise, is a short-necked freshwater turtle that is the sister taxon to all other members of the subfamily Chelodininae. As a consequence of the greatly altered ecology in the region around Perth, Western Australia, where it exists in fragmented populations, the species is critically endangered by extinction.
Elseya is a genus of large side-necked turtles, commonly known as Australian snapping turtles, in the family Chelidae. Species in the genus Elseya are found in river systems in northern and northeastern Australia and throughout the river systems of New Guinea. They are identified by the presence of alveolar ridges on the triturating surfaces of the mouth and the presence of a complex bridge strut.
The Bellinger River turtle, is a species of turtles in the family Chelidae. The species of moderate size it is endemic to Australia but with a highly restricted distribution to the small coastal drainage of Bellinger River in New South Wales, Australia. In the past the species was considered locally abundant, albeit with a highly restricted range. The species preferred habitat is the deeper pools of the clear-water upstream reaches of the river, where water flows continuously in most months over a bedrock basement and a stream bed of boulders, pebbles, and gravel.
Emydura, the Australian short-necked turtles, are a genus of turtles in the family Chelidae. It was paraphyletic with Elseya. Consequently, it was split into two genera Myuchelys and Elseya by Thomson & Georges, 2009. They can grow quite large, 30 cm or more is not unusual and have a life span of around 20–30 years. They generally do not hibernate as their warmer climate lets them remain active all year round; they also spend more time in the water than other varieties. They are considered omnivore but rely on a constant supply of meat to remain healthy, feeding on basically anything that will fit into their mouth.
The East African black mud turtle, also known as the Pan terrapin, is a species of turtle in the family Pelomedusidae, native to eastern and southeastern Africa.
Plagiorchiida is a large order of trematodes, synonymous to Echinostomida. They belong to the Digenea, a large subclass of flukes. This order contains relatively few significant parasites of humans.
The Myuchelys is a genus of turtles, the Australian saw-shelled turtles, in the family Chelidae and subfamily Chelodininae. They inhabit the headwaters and tributaries of rivers within their range and this led to the name Myuchelys, which is formed from the Aboriginal word myuna meaning clear water and the Greek chelys meaning turtle. They have a short neck and the intergular scute completely separates the gular scutes. They have no alveolar ridge separating them from the snapping turtles of the genus Elseya.
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.
Chelodina canni, known as Cann's snake-necked turtle, is an Australian species found in the northern and northeastern parts of the continent. It has a narrow zone of hybridization with its related species the eastern snake-necked turtle, Chelodina longicollis. For many years this species was assumed to be the same species as Chelodina novaeguineae from New Guinea, however recently it has been shown that these two species differ both morphologically and genetically. Hence it was separated and described as a unique species in 2002.
Emydura macquarii, is a wide-ranging species that occurs throughout many of the rivers of the eastern half of Australia. It is found primarily in the Macquarie River Basin and all its major tributaries, along with a number of coastal rivers up the New South Wales Coast. It is also found in the coastal Queensland Rivers and the Cooper Creek Ecosystem, along with Fraser Island.
Chelodina (Macrochelodina) expansa, commonly known as the broad-shelled river turtle or the broad-shelled snake-necked turtle, is a pleurodire freshwater turtle and is the largest of the long-necked turtles. The broad-shelled river turtle is one of the oldest maturing and longest living species of freshwater turtles in existence and occurs in wide sympatry with Emydura macquarii and Chelodina longicollis. C. expansa is listed as ‘vulnerable’ in South Australia and ‘threatened’ in Victoria.
Choanocotyle elegans is a species of flatworms in the family Choanocotylidae. It infects Australian freshwater turtles. It was described from the small intestine of Chelodina expansa and Emydura macquarii.
References
- 1 2 3 Description and life-cycle of two new species of Choanocotyle n. g. (Trematoda: Plagiorchiida), parasites of Australian freshwater turtles, and the erection of the family Choanocotylidae. Lindsay Jue Sue, Systematic Parasitology, September 1998, Volume 41, Issue 1, pages 47–61, doi:10.1023/A:1006074125118
- 1 2 Two new species of Choanocotyle Jue Sue and Platt, 1998 (Digenea: Choanocotylidae) from an Australian freshwater turtle (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae). Platt TR and Tkach VV, J Parasitol. 2003 Feb;89(1), pages 145-150, PMID 12659318, doi:10.1645/0022-3395(2003)089[0145:TNSOCJ]2.0.CO;2
