''Emydura victoriae'', also known commonly as the red-faced turtle, Victoria short-necked turtle and Victoria River turtle, is a

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 medium-sized aquatic turtle in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

. The species inhabits rivers, streams and permanent water bodies across much of 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 ...

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 ...

, ''victoriae'', refers to the

Victoria River (Northern Territory) The Victoria River is a river in the bioregion of Victoria Bonaparte in the Northern Territory of Australia. It flows for from its source south of the Judbarra / Gregory National Park to the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea. Histor ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Emydura victoriae'', p. 275).

Taxonomy

The species ''E. victiriae'' has a disrupted nomenclatural history. For many years it appeared in the literature as ''Emydura australis'' (Gray 1841: 445)Gray, John Edward (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 Northwest and Western Australia''. London: T. and W. Boone, Vol. 2. Appendix E, pp. 422–449. however in 1983 this name was synonymised with ''Emydura macquarii'', incorrectly according to Iverson et al. 2001.Iverson, John B., Arthur Georges and Scott Thomson (2001). "The validity of the taxonomic changes for turtles proposed by Wells and Wellington". ''Journal of Herpetology'' 35: 361-368
download
/ref> Since this time the species has been known as ''Emydura victoriae'' this name too has nomenclatural issues and it is possible the names may eventually be reversed again.

Synonymy

*''Hydraspis victoriae''

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

1842:55 **''Chelymys victoriae'' Gray 1872:21 **''Chelymys victoriae'' Baur 1888:419 **''Chelymys victoriae'' Baur 1889 **''Emydura victoriae'' Worrell 1964:17 **''Tropicochelymys victoriae'' — Wells &

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, 1985: 9 **''Emydura victoriae'' King & Burke 1989 **''Emydura victoriae'' Georges 1996 **''Emydura victoria''

Cann Cann may refer to: * Cann (surname), a list of people with the name * Cann River, a river of Victoria, Australia * Cann, Dorset, a village in England *Edward du Cann, British businessman and politician * Claire and Antoinette Cann pianists, known ...

, 1997: 28 ''(

ex errore This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Many of the abbreviations are ...

)'' **''Emydura victoriae'' Cogger 2000: 199 **''Emydura victoriae'' Georges &

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 ...

2010 **''Emydura victoriae'' Kehlmaier et al. 2019 **''Emydura victoriae'' TTWG 2021

References

Emydura Reptiles described in 1842 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Turtles of Australia {{Turtle-stub