| |
 |
Waterbodies occupied by C. burrungandjii undergo dramatic annual fluctuations in depth, water flow and turbidity under the influence of the monsoonal wet-dry climate of the region. During the dry season, when water levels are lower, groups of Aboriginal people hunt turtles by wading through the water and feeling for turtles with their hands and feet. Unlike the shallow ephemeral flood plain habitats occupied C. rugosa, waterbodies occupied by the C. burrungandjii rarely dry completely. According to local Aboriginal people, C. burrungandjii does not aestivate underground during the dry season like C. rugosa, but whether this arises from lack of capability or lack of necessity is uncertain.
The diet of C. burrungandjii is also distinctly different from that of C. rugosa (Kennett and Tory 1996), in that it appears to feed on plant material. Local Aboriginal people also report that C. burrungandjii feeds on leaves and flowers of water lilies, seeds of Pandanus spp. and leaves of the Freshwater Mangrove (Barrangtonia acutangula) (Sandy Barraway, pers comm; Jessie Brown, pers. comm.). Legler (1982) too regarded a high occurrence of vegetable material in stomach samples of C. burrungandjii, as evidence of partial herbivory. The vegetable material included unidentified fruits and pieces of bark, leaves, and roots of Pandanus spp. Carnivory is the rule amongst Chelodina, so the possible herbivorous tendencies of C. burrungandjii are unusual. It may represent an adaptation to depauperate sandstone environments and seasonal shortages of fish and shrimp prey.
Acknowledgements
Logistic support for this study was provided by the Parks and Wildlife Commission NT. The assistance of Brent Williams and other park staff at Nitmiluk National Park is especially acknowledged. We thank the Jawoyn people, especially Sandy Barraway for permission to work on their lands and for providing information on Aboriginal knowledge of the turtles. We thank Meredith Anderson, Glenda Georges, Sean Doody, Jeanne and Marie Young, Jane Kahler, Grant Flanagan, Cameron Yates, Colin Wilson and Chris Jones for assistance in the field. We thank Brent Williams for helpful comments on the manuscript, Virginia Ebsworth for sorting stomach samples and Karen Coombes for identifying shrimp. The study was funded in part by the CRC for Freshwater Ecology, Canberra (ASCW-208).
Literature Cited
Burbidge, A.A., Kirsch, J.A.W. and Main, A.R. 1974. Relationships within the Chelidae (Testudines: Pleurodira) of Australia and New Zealand. Copeia 1974: 392-409.
Cann, J. 1998a. Georges short-neck turtle. Monitor 9:18-23.
Cann, J. 1998b. The northern yellow-faced turtle. Monitor 9:24-29, 34-35.
Cann, J. 1998c. Irwin’s Turtle. Monitor 9:36-40.
Cann, J and Legler, J. 1994. The Mary River Tortoise: A new genus and species of short-necked chelid from Queensland, Australia (Testudines; Pleurodira). Chel. Cons. Biol. 1:81-96.
Cope. E.D. 1864. On the limits and relations of the raniforms. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 16:181-183.
Gaffney, E.S. 1979. Comparative cranial morphology of recent and fossil turtles. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 164:65-376.
|
|
Georges, A. 1983. Reproduction of the Australian freshwater turtle Emydura krefftii (Chelonia: Chelidae). J. Zool. (London) 201:331-350.
Georges, A. 1993. Setting conservation priorities for Australian freshwater turtles. In: Lunney, D. and Ayers, D. (Eds). Herpetology in Australia - a diverse discipline. Transactions of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Chipping Norton: Surrey Beatty and Sons, pp. 49-58.
Georges, A. and Adams, M. 1992. A phylogeny for Australian chelid turtles based on allozyme electrophoresis. Aust. J. Zool. 40: 453-476.
Georges, A. and Adams, M. 1996. Electrophoretic delineation of species boundaries within the short-necked chelid turtles of Australia. Zool. J. Linnean Soc., Lond. 118:241-260.
Georges, A., Norris, R. and Wensing, L. 1986. Diet of the freshwater turtle Chelodina longicollis (Testudines: Chelidae), from the coastal dune lakes of the Jervis Bay Territory. Aust. Wild. Res. 13: 301-8.
Goode, J. 1967. Freshwater tortoises of Australia and New Guinea. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 154pp.
Hoffstetter, R. and Gasc, J. 1969. Vertebrae and ribs of modern reptiles. In: Gans, C. (Ed). The Biology of the Reptilia. Vol. 1 Morphology A. New York: Academic Press, pp. 205-310.
Kennett, R. 1994. Ecology of Two Species of Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina rugosa and Elseya dentata, from the Wet-dry Tropics of Northern Australia. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland.
Kennett, R. M. 1996. Growth models for two species of freshwater turtle from tropical northern Australia. Herpetologica 52:383-395.
Kennett, R. 1999. Reproduction of two species of freshwater turtle, Chelodina rugosa and Elseya dentata, from the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia. J. Zool. (London) (In Press).
Kennett, R.M. and Tory, O. 1996. Diet of two species of freshwater turtle from tropical northern Australia. Copeia, 1996:409-419.
Kennett, R.M., Georges, A. and Palmer-Allen, M. 1993. Early developmental arrest during immersion of eggs of a tropical chelid turtle, Chelodina rugosa (Testudinata: Chelidae), from northern Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 41:37-45.
Kennett, R.M., Christian, K. and Bedford, G. 1998. Underwater nesting by the Australian freshwater turtle, Chelodina rugosa: The effect of prolonged immersion and eggshell thickness on incubation period, egg survivorship and hatchling size. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 76:1019-1023.
Legler, J.M. 1981. The taxonomy, distribution, and ecology of Australian freshwater turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae). Nat. Geog. Soc. Res. Rep. 13:391-404.
Legler, J. M. 1982. The ecology of freshwater turtles in the Alligator Rivers Region. (Open file Record #66 of the Office of the Supervising Scientist, Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, Canberra).
Legler, J.M. 1985. Australian chelid turtles: Reproductive patterns in wide-ranging taxa. In Grigg, G., Shine, R. and Ehman, H. (Eds.). Biology of Australasian Frogs and Reptiles. Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, pp. 117-123.
Legler, J.M. and Cann, J. 1980. A new genus and species of chelid turtle from Queensland, Australia. Contrib.Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co. 324:1-18.
Legler, J.M. and Georges, A. 1993. Family Chelidae. In Glasby, C.J., Ross, G.J.B. and Beesley, P.L '(Eds.). Fauna of Australia. Vol. 2A Amphibia and Reptilia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, pp. 142-152.
Linnaeus, C.1758. Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Salvi, Stockholm. 10th Ed. Holmiae. Vol. 1. 824pp.
Lucas, D. and Russel-Smith, J. 1993. Traditional Resources of the South Alligator Floodplain: Utilisation and Management. Unpubl. Rep. to the Australian Nature Conservation Agency.
Ogilby, J.B. 1905. Catalogue of the Emydosaurian and Testudian reptiles of New Guinea. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, Brisbane. 19:1-31.
Pritchard, P.C.H. 1988. A survey of neural bone variation among recent chelonian species, with functional interpretations. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensa 31(26):625-686.
Rhodin, A.G.J. and Mittermeier, R.A. 1976. Chelodina parkeri, a new species of chelid turtle from New Guinea, with a discussion of Chelodina seibenrocki Werner, 1901. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 147:465-488
Seymour, R., Kennett, R.M. and Christian, K. 1997. Osmotic balance in the eggs of the turtle, Chelodina rugosa, during developmental arrest under water. Physiological Zoology, 70:301-306.
Thomson, S. and Georges, A. 1996. Neural bones in Australian chelid turtles. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 2:82-86.
Thomson, S., White, A. and Georges, A. 1997. Re-evaluation of Emydura lavarackorum: Identification of a living fossil. Mem. Qld Mus. 42:327-336.
Williams, E. 1950. Variation in the cervical articulation in recent and fossil turtles. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 94:509-561.
Zangerl, R. 1969. The turtle shell. Pp. 311-340 In Gans, C., Bellairs, D.d'A. and Parsons, T.A. (ed’s). Biology of the Reptilia, Morphology A. Vol. 1. Academic Press, London.
|
|
