An Introduction to the Chelodina
by Scott Thomson.
The Chelodina or Snake Neck Turtles are indigenous to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. First found in Australia the type species of the genus is Chelodina longicollis.
The map to the left shows the distributions of 7 members of the Chelodina. Chelodina oblonga (from Perth) has been left out due to the controversy over the placement of this species. I personally consider it a member of the Chelodina (it is certainly not a Macrochelodina) but an equal case can be made for it being a monotypic genus. The species are as follows:
Chelodina mccordi (Rhodin, 1994a) from Roti Island, Indonesia.
Chelodina reimanni (Phillipen and Grossman, 1990) from Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
Chelodina novaeguineae (Boulenger, 1888) from Irian Jaya, Indonesia and Southern New Guinea.
Chelodina pritchardi (Rhodin, 1994b) from Kemp/Welsch River, New Guinea.
Chelodina steindachneri (Siebenrock, 1914) from mid western Australia.
Chelodina canni (Rhodin, 1994a) from northern Australia.
Chelodina longicollis (Shaw, 1794) from south eastern Australia.
Map from McCord, W. and Thomson, S. (2002) A new species of Chelodina (Tesudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from Northern Australia. Journal of Herpetology 36(2):255-267.
References
Boulenger, G.A. 1888. On the chelydoid chelonians of New Guinea. Annals Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Genova. (2)6:449-452
McCord W. and Thomson S. (2002). A new species of Chelodina (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from Northern Australia. Journal of Herpetology 36(2):255-267
Phillipen, H.D. and Grossman, M. (1990) Eine neue Schlangenhalsschildkrote von Neueguinea: Chelodina reimanni sp. n. (Reptilia, Testudines, Pleuordira: Chelidae). Zoologische Abhandlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Tierkunde, Dresden, 46:95-102.
Rhodin, A.G.J. (1994a) Chelid Turtles of the Australian Archipelago II: A new species of Chelodina from Roti Island, Indonesia. Breviora 498:1-38.
Rhodin, A.G.J. (1994b) Chelid Turtles of the Australian Archipelago I: A new species of Chelodina from southeastern Papua New Guinea. Breviora 497:1-36.
Siebenrock, F. 1914. Eine neue Chelodina art aus Westaustralien. Anz. Akad. Wiss. Wien Math.-natur. Kl.(1)17:386-387.
Shaw, G. 1794. Zoology of New Holland. Vol 1. Davis, London. 33pp.