Genus Carettochelys Ramsay, 1886

Museums

Regional Maps

• Carettochelys Ramsay, E.P. 1886. On a new genus and species of fresh water tortoise from the Fly River, New Guinea. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 1: 158-162 [1887 on title page of bound volume] [158] [this spelling of the generic name is fixed as the correct original spelling by the action of Boulenger, G.A. 1882. Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). London : British Museum x 311 pp., as First Reviser under Article 24.2.3 of the Fourth Edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature].

  Type species:

   Carettochelys insculptus Ramsay, 1886 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Boulenger, G.A. 1889. Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). London : British Museum i-x, 311 pp.
• Carettocchelys Ramsay, E.P. 1886. On a new genus and species of fresh water tortoise from the Fly River, New Guinea. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 1: 158-162 [1887 on title page of bound volume] [158] [error for Carettochelys Ramsay, 1886].
• Carretochelys Ramsay, E.P. 1886. On a new genus and species of fresh water tortoise from the Fly River, New Guinea. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 1: 158-162 [1887 on title page of bound volume] [161] [error for Carettochelys Ramsay, 1886].

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [65]

 

Introduction

Cryptodirous (neck withdrawn straight back into the shell); no epidermal scutes overlying the shell, covered instead with continuous skin; bony plates of carapace, plastron and skull with small, round rugosities and wavy irregular raised lines between shallow sculptures (often not evident in live animals); carapace deep with a median keel toward the rear; peripheral bones complete and well developed, margin of shell rigid; plastron, small, forming a continuous plate without fontanelles, moderately flexible; forelimbs paddle-shaped, first two digits clawed, remaining digits strongly webbed; hindlegs also with two claws, but shorter; jaws with horny sheaths; nostrils at the end of a fleshy, truncated pig-like snout; dorsal surface of tail with a series of crescent-shaped scales. [Description from Georges & Thomson, 2010]

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory

Extra Distribution Information

New Guinea (southern New Guinea).

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal

General References

Georges, A. & Thomson, S. 2010. Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species. Zootaxa 2496: 1-37 [11]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
29-Apr-2011		19-Mar-2013	MODIFIED
08-Mar-2011		18-Apr-2011	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)