Elseya uberrima
Extinct species of turtle
Elseya uberrima Temporal range: Pliocene | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Pleurodira |
Family: | Chelidae |
Genus: | Elseya |
Subgenus: | Pelocomastes |
Species: | E. uberrima |
Binomial name | |
Elseya uberrima (De Vis, 1897) |
Elseya uberrima is a Pliocene species of extinct Australian snapping turtle.
Taxonomy
During his time at the Queensland Museum, Charles Walter De Vis described a number of fossil turtles from the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia.[1] All four species described were declared a single diagnosable species by Thomson, 2000.[1]
To avoid confusion the synonymy for the species is as follows:
- Elseya uberrima (De Vis, 1897[2])
- Chelymys uberrima De Vis, 1897: 3[2]
- Chelymys antiqua De Vis 1897: 4[2]
- Chelymys arata De Vis 1897: 5[2]
- Pelocomastes ampla De Vis 1897: 6–7[2]
This synonymy has made the genus name Pelocomastes a junior synonym of Elseya and in their recent revision of that genus Thomson et al. (2015)[3] resurrected Pelocomastes as a subgenus to represent the Queensland clade of the Elseya. Therefore, Elseya (Pelocomastes) uberrima is the type species for this subgenus.
![A) Lectotype of Elseya uberrima; B) Lectotype of Elseya arata; C-D) dorsal and ventral views of the lectotype of Pelocomastes ampla.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Uberima.gif)
References
- ^ a b Thomson SA. 2000. A Revision of the Fossil Chelid Turtles (Pleurodira) Described by C.W. De Vis, 1897. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 45 (2): 593–598. (Brisbane).
- ^ a b c d e De Vis CW. 1897. The extinct freshwater turtles of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 3: 3–7.
- ^ 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)