The Gulf snapping turtle or Lavaracks' turtle (''Elseya lavarackorum'') is a large

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of freshwater

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

in the sidenecked family

Chelidae Chelidae is one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira, and are commonly called Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South Amer ...

Georges A Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) *Georges (novel), ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas *Georges ( ...

, Thomson S (2010)
"Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species".
''Zootaxa'' 2496: 1–37. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in northwest

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and northeast

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. The species, similar to other members of the Australian snapping turtles in genus ''Elseya,'' only comes ashore to lay eggs and bask. Cann J (1998). ''Australian Freshwater Turtles''. Singapore: Beaumont. 292 pp. . The Gulf snapping turtle is a

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

and primarily consumes ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

'' and figs.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''lavarackorum'' (genitive plural), is in honor of Australian

paleontologists Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Jim Lavarack and Sue Lavarack who discovered the fossil remains of this species. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Elseya lavarackorum'', p. 152).

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1994 as ''Emydura lavarackorum'' after

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

material was found in Riversleigh in northwest Queensland. It was later demonstrated anatomically that because of its anterior bridge struts that it actually belonged to the genus ''

Elseya ''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 ...

'' and further to a living, although undescribed form. The species was also declared at this time to be Australia's first

living fossil A living fossil is a Deprecation, deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of or ...

freshwater turtle and an extant population of a

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

. The latter gained significant public attention to this species after a story was published in ''

Discover Magazine ''Discover'' is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It is currently owned by LabX Media Group. History Founding ''Discover'' was created primarily through the efforts of ''Time'' magazine e ...

'' in January 1997.Zimmer C (1997)
"Shell Game"
''Discover Magazine'', January 1997 Issue. After placing this species in the correct genus, it was possible to look at the deeper phylogeny of the ''Elseya.'' This species lends its name to the group within the ''Elseya'' known as the Queensland ''Elseya'' or ''Elseya lavarackorum'' group.Thomson S, Georges A, Limpus C (2006). "A New Species of Freshwater Turtle in the Genus ''Elseya'' (Testudines: Chelidae) from Central Coastal Queensland, Australia". '' Chelon. Conserv. Biol.'' 5 (1): 74–86
PDF fulltext
This is a unique group of species that includes ''Elseya lavarackorum'' along with ''

Elseya albagula ''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 carapace length. The species is endemic to south-eastern Queensland, Australia, in the B ...

'' and '' Elseya irwini'', and all three are divergent from the ''Elseya dentata'' group. In recent papers Joseph-Ouni ''et al''. (2020) attempted to deem this species as a fully extinct species and describe the living population as a new species ''Elseya oneiros''. There is only 27 thousand years between the fossil and the living taxon. As such Joseph-Ouni ''et al''. had to deem the fossil as a member of the true ''Elseya'' rather than ''Pelocomastes'' hence demonstrating a paraphyletic relationship. The evidence they presented for this was minimal and often unscientific, it was published in a journal that has inadequate scientific review. This situation was refuted by

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson M ...

''et al''. 2023. This most recent paper presented phylogenetic evidence along with detailed descriptions of over 100 characters to refute the claims by Joseph-Ouni ''et al''. a position accepted by the major turtle and reptile checklists.

Synonymy

*''Emydura lavarackorum'' **''Elseya lavarackorum'' **''Elseya lavarakorum'' **''Elseya lavackorum'' **''Elseya dentata lavarackorum'' **''Elseya'' (''Pelocomastes'') ''lavarackorum'' 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)
/ref> **''Elseya'' (''Pelocomastes'') ''oneiros''

Description

The Gulf snapping turtle is a large, brown to dark brown, short-necked turtle. Its

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

, or upper shell, reaches in straight carapace length; it has an undulating suture between the humeral and pectoral shields in the white

plastron The turtle shell is a shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles (the Order (biology), order Testudines), completely enclosing all the turtle's vital organs and in some cases even the head. It is constructed of modified bony elements such ...

, or under shell. The undulating (rather than straight) suture in the plastron distinguishes it from the northern snapping turtle (''

Elseya dentata ''Elseya dentata'' (Gray, 1863),Gray, J.E. 1863. On the species of ''Chelymys'' from Australia, with the description of a new species. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 3(12):98-99 the northern snapping turtle, is a large aquatic turtle ...

''). Woinarski, John (compiler) (May 2006).

Geographic range and habitat

The Gulf snapping turtle is restricted to rivers draining into the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

in the

and

. These rivers range from the

Nicholson Nicholson may refer to: People *Nicholson (name), a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Nicholson, Victoria * Nicholson, Queensland * Nicholson County, New South Wales * Nicholson River (disambiguation) * Nicholson Ro ...

Calvert River The Calvert River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course The headwaters rise on a plain between the Calvert Hills and China Wall and flow northward through mostly uninhabited lands and pastoral leases such as Calvert Hills ...

systems in the Northern Territory to the Gregory River in Queensland.

Behaviour

The Gulf snapping turtle is primarily

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

and eat fruits, flowers, leaves, bark and ''

'' roots, and the juveniles also eat

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

larvae.

Fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

s are also an important food for the turtle. Despite its usually herbivorous diet, Lavaracks' turtle is readily trapped using meat as bait.

Reproduction

The eggs of ''E. lavarackorum'' are laid in soil near the edge of the water.

Status and conservation

The Gulf snapping turtle is listed as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

under the Commonwealth ''Endangered Species Protection Act 1992'', as Vulnerable under Queensland's ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'', and as of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

under the Northern Territory's ''Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000''. The main threats to the turtle include disturbance to

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

ing sites by

feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

animals such as

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

by grazing and watering

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

, and potentially through changes to

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

, disturbance, and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. In addition to these main threats, Lavaracks' turtle has been known to get caught in fishing nets.

References

External links

North Australian Land Manager: Management Guidelines for Gulf Snapping Turtle

Gondwanan Turtle Information
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2362085 Elseya (Pelocomastes) Elseya Reptiles of Queensland North West Queensland Reptiles described in 1994 Reptiles of the Northern Territory Turtles of Australia