Elseya uberrima

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Elseya uberrima
Temporal range: Pliocene
Lectotype elseya uberrima.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Pleurodira
Family: Chelidae
Genus: Elseya
Subgenus: Pelocomastes
Species:
E. uberrima
Binomial name
Elseya uberrima
(De Vis, 1897)

Elseya uberrima is a Pliocene species of extinct Australian snapping turtle.

Taxonomy

During his time at the Queensland Museum, Charles Walter De Vis described a number of fossil turtles from the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. [1] All four species described were declared a single diagnosable species by Thomson, 2000. [1]

To avoid confusion the synonymy for the species is as follows:

This synonymy has made the genus name Pelocomastes a junior synonym of Elseya and in their recent revision of that genus Thomson et al. (2015) [3] resurrected Pelocomastes as a subgenus to represent the Queensland clade of the Elseya . Therefore, Elseya (Pelocomastes) uberrima is the type species for this subgenus.

A) Lectotype of Elseya uberrima; B) lectotype of Elseya arata; C-D) dorsal and ventral views of the lectotype of Pelocomastes ampla. Uberima.gif
A) Lectotype of Elseya uberrima; B) lectotype of Elseya arata; C-D) dorsal and ventral views of the lectotype of Pelocomastes ampla.

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References

  1. 1 2 Thomson SA. 2000. A Revision of the Fossil Chelid Turtles (Pleurodira) Described by C.W. De Vis, 1897. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum45 (2): 593–598. (Brisbane).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 De Vis CW. 1897. The extinct freshwater turtles of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum3: 3–7.
  3. Thomson, S., Amepou, Y., Anamiato, J. & Georges, A. 2015. A new species and subgenus of Elseya (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from New Guinea. Zootaxa 4006(1):59–82. Preview (PDF)