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, further Macrochelodina and Macrodiremys are now known to apply to the same species, hence Chelydera is used for the northern snake-necked turtles.
Chelodina is an ancient group of chelid turtles native to Australia, New Guinea, the Indonesian Rote Island, and East Timor. The turtles within this subgenus are small to medium-sized with oval shaped carapace. They are side-necked turtles, meaning they tuck their head partially around the side of their body when threatened instead of directly backwards.
Chelydera represents those species that have often been termed the Chelodina B group or thick necked snake neck turtles. The subgenus was described in 2020 by Thomson & Georges (in Shea et al. 2020). They are a side-neck turtle of the family Chelidae with extremely long necks and long flattened heads. They are specialist fish eaters using a strike and gape mode of feeding. They are medium to large species with the largest Chelodina (Chelydera) expansa reaching shell lengths of some .Macrochelodina expansa (Grey, 1856) - Broad-Shelled Turtle The first fossils (C. (Chelydera) alanrixi) are known from Queensland from the Eocene period (Lapparent de Broin, F. de, & Molnar, R. E., 2001).
Macrochelodina (Wells & Wellington, 1985) is a monotypic subgenus of the Chelodina. Its sole member is the enigmatic Chelodina (Macrochelodina) oblonga from Western Australia.
Taxonomy Current taxonomy follows that of Georges & Thomson, 2010 with updates from van Dijk et al. 2014 and Shea et al. 2020.
Synonymous names for the Chelodina Fitzinger 1826 genus include: Hydraspis Bell 1828, Chelyodina Agassiz 1846:79 (nomen novum), Hesperochelodina Wells and Wellington 1985 (nomen nudum).
The type species for the Chelodina subgenus is Chelodina longicollis (Shaw, 1794). The type species for the Chelydera subgenus is Chelodina parkeri Rhodin and Mittermeier 1976. The type species for Macrochelodina is Chelodina oblonga Gray 1841.
List of species Common nameScientific nameIUCN Red List StatusPictureSubgenus: Chelodina Fitzinger, 1826Cann's snake-necked turtleChelodina canni McCord & Thomson, 2002Gunalen's snake-necked turtleChelodina gunaleni McCord & Joseph-Ouni, 2007Chelodina gunaleni, The Reptile DatabaseAramia snake-necked turtleChelodina ipudinapiJoseph-Ouni, & McCord, 2022Eastern long-necked turtleChelodina longicollis(Shaw, 1794)Roti Island snake-necked turtleMcCord's snakeneck turtleChelodina mccordi Rhodin, 1994bRhodin, Anders G.J. (1994b). Chelid turtles of the Australasian Archipelago: II. A new species of Chelodina from Roti Island, Indonesia. Breviora 498:1–31.PDFNew Guinea snake-necked turtleChelodina novaeguineaeBoulenger, 1888Reimann's snake-necked turtleChelodina reimanniPhilippen and Grossmann, 1990Pritchard's snake-necked turtleChelodina pritchardiRhodin, 1994aRhodin, Anders G.J. (1994a). Chelid turtles of the Australasian Archipelago: I. A new species of Chelodina from southeastern Papua New Guinea. Breviora 497:1–36. PDFSteindachner's long-necked turtleDinner-plate turtleChelodina steindachneriSiebenrock, 1914Subgenus: Chelydera Thomson & Georges, 2020Shea, G., Thomson, S. & Georges, A. 2020. The identity of Chelodina oblonga Gray 1841 (Testudines: Chelidae) reassessed. Zootaxa 4779(3): 419–437. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4779.3.9. PDFArnhem Land long-necked turtleChelodina burrungandjiiThomson, Kennett & Georges, 2000Thomson S., Kennett R. and Georges A. (2000). A new species of long necked turtle (Chelidae:Chelodina) from the sandstone plateau of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 3:675-685.Giant snake-necked turtleChelodina expansaGray, 1857Kuchling's snake-necked turtleChelodina kuchlingiCann, 1997Cann, John (1997d). Kuchling's turtle. Monitor (Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society) 9(1):41–44,32.Darwin snake-necked turtleChelodina kurrichalpongo(Joseph-Ouni, McCord, Cann, & Smales, 2019)Parker's snake-necked turtleChelodina parkeriRhodin and Mittermeier, 1976Northern snake-necked turtleNorth Australian snake-necked turtleChelodina rugosaOgilby, 1890Ogilby, J.D. 1890. Description of a new Australian tortoise. Rec. Austral. Mus. 1: 56-59Kimberley long neck turtleChelodina walloyarrina Subgenus: Macrochelodina Wells & Wellington 1985Southwestern snake-necked turtle Narrow-breasted snake-necked turtle Oblong turtleChelodina oblongaGray, 1841Gray, John Edward (1841). Gray, J.E., (1841) A Catalogue of the Species of Reptiles and Amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some New Species from Western Australia, and some remarks on their geographical distribution. In: Grey, G. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39, Under the Authority of Her Majesty's Government. Vol. 2. T. and W. Boone, London, 28 pp., 8 pls. [pp. 422–449, pls. 1–8]
Extinct species
There are three identified extinct species of Chelodina: †Chelodina alanrixi de Broin and Molnar, 2001 is a species of snake-necked fossil turtle which was described in 2001 using material gathered in Redbank Plains, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Chelidae Pleurodira. The fossil has been dated to the Eocene Epoch. †Chelodina insculpta de Vis, 1897de Vis, C.W. (1897). The extinct freshwater turtles of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 3: 3-7. is an extinct species of snake-necked turtle that was described in 1897 from material gathered in Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia, restricted.Thomson, S. A. 2000. A Revision of the Fossil Chelid Turtles (Pleurodira) Described by C.W. De Vis, 1897. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 45(2):593-598. It is a member of the Chelidae; Pleurodira. The fossil has been dated as Pliocene to Pleistocene. †Chelodina murrayi Yates, 2013 is an extinct species of snake-necked turtle from the Waite Formation on the Alcoota Scientific Reserve, north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. The species would appear to belong to the Chelodina novaeguineae group of species within the subgenus Chelodina.
Notes
References
External links
Overview of the genus Chelodina with original literature