Myuchelys - Misplaced Pages

Genus of turtles

Myuchelys

Myuchelys
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Pleurodira
Family:	Chelidae
Subfamily:	Chelodininae
Genus:	Myuchelys Thomson and Georges, 2009
Synonyms
Flaviemys Le, Reid, McCord, Naro-Maciel, Raxworthy, Amato, and Georges, 2013:257

The Myuchelys is a genus of turtles, the Australian saw-shelled turtles, in the family Chelidae and subfamily Chelodininae. They inhabit the headwaters and tributaries of rivers within their range and this led to the name Myuchelys, which is formed from the Aboriginal word myuna meaning clear water and the Greek chelys meaning turtle. They have a short neck and the intergular scute completely separates the gular scutes. They have no alveolar ridge separating them from the snapping turtles of the genus Elseya.

Species

The genus currently contains these cryptic small species of freshwater turtles, endemic to eastern and northern Australia:

Myuchelys bellii, Namoi River snapping turtle Gray, 1844
Myuchelys georgesi, Bellinger River snapping turtle Cann, 1997
Myuchelys latisternum, saw-shelled turtle Gray, 1867
Myuchelys purvisi, Manning River snapping turtle

Taxonomic history

The species Myuchelys latisternum was originally placed in the genus Elseya by Gray in 1867 but Elseya was redefined by George Albert Boulenger in 1889 to include species defined by the presence of an alveolar ridge. Hence, Myuchelys latisternum and Myuchelys novaeguineae were moved to the genus Emydura. In 1967, the two species were placed back in the genus Elseya by J. Goode, where they remained until recently.

During the time, the species Myuchelys bellii was basically lost to knowledge, having been misidentified as a South American species when described by Gray in 1844, and was in the genus Phrynops until this oversight was corrected by Cann in 1998. The species Myuchelys georgesi and Myuchelys purvisi were initially placed in the genus Elseya, but were identified as belonging to a unique clade along with Myuchelys latisternum and Myuchelys bellii using electrophoresis.

The first attempt to separate this group into its own genus was the genus Euchelymys (Gray, 1871), but this name was subsequently synonymised with Elseya by Boulenger (1889) and the name was made permanently unavailable when Lindholm (1929) set Euchelymys sulcifera (= Emydura macquarii) as the type species, effectively making the name Euchelymys a junior synonym of Emydura.

Another option investigated was the fossil form Pelocomastes, de Vis 1897; the species in this genus may have represented an extinct member of the latisternum group, but this was determined to be incorrect and the name Pelocomastes is now considered a junior synonym of Elseya.

The genus name Wollumbinia was erected by Wells, 2007, this paper was pointed out by Georges and Thomson to be in breach of the ICZN code defining a valid publication, ICZN Articles 8 and 9 and Recommendation 8D. As such this name is not considered valid. The genus encompassing these species was named Myuchelys by Thomson and Georges, 2009. Currently, this arrangement is considered the accepted name for the latisternum group by the IUCN, a single taxonomic checklist and by numerous workers in diverse disciplines. In the ensuing time the name Myuchelys has established usage as defined by the ICZN code.

In 2013, Le et al. found that one species, purvisi, was still paraphyletic and proposed a new monophyletic genus to handle this; purvisi was therefore moved to the genus Flaviemys. In 2017, the IUCN TTWG following the recommendation of Spinks et al. (2015) placed Flaviemys as a synonymy of Myuchelys.

References

^ Rhodin, Anders G.J.; Inverson, John B.; Roger, Bour; Fritz, Uwe; Georges, Arthur; Shaffer, H. Bradley & van Dijk, Peter Paul (August 3, 2017). "Turtles of the world, 2017 update: Annotated checklist and atlas of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 7 (8th ed.). doi:10.3854/crm.7.checklist.atlas.v8.2017. ISBN 978-1-5323-5026-9. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
^ Thomson, Scott & Georges, Arthur (2009). "Myuchelys gen. nov. a new genus for Elseya latisternum and related forms of Australian freshwater turtle (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae)". Zootaxa. 2053 (1): 32–42. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2053.1.2.
^ Gray, J. E. 1844. Catalogue of the Tortoises, Crocodiles and Amphibaenians in the Collection of the British Museum. London. Edward Newman. 80pp.
Cann, J. 1998a. Georges short-neck turtle. Monitor 9(1):18-23.
^ Gray, J. E. (1867). "Description of a new Australian Tortoise (Elseya latisternum)". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 3. 20 (115): 43–45. doi:10.1080/00222936708562715.
^ Boulenger, G. A. (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). London: British Museum. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.13541.
Goode, J. (1967) Freshwater Tortoises of Australia and New Guinea (in the Family Chelidae). Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.
Cann, J. (1998) Australian Freshwater Turtles. Beaumont Publishing, Singapore.
Georges, A. & Adams, M. (1992). "A phylogeny for Australian chelid turtles based on allozyme electrophoresis". Australian Journal of Zoology. 40 (5): 453–476. doi:10.1071/zo9920453.
Gray, J. E. (1871). "On Euchelymys, a new genus and two new species of Australian Freshwater Tortoises". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 4. 8 (44): 117–118. doi:10.1080/00222937108696445.
Lindholm, W.A. (1929) Revidiertes Verzeichnis der Gattungen der rezenten Schildkröten nebst Notizen zur Nomenklatur einger Arten. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 81, 275–295.
de Vis, C.W. 1897. The extinct freshwater turtles of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum. 3: 3-7.
Thomson, S. A. 2000 06 30: A Revision of the Fossil Chelid Turtles (Pleurodira) Described by C.W. De Vis, 1897. Memoires of the Queensland Museum 45(2):593-598. Brisbane. ISSN 0079-8835.
Wells, R.W. (2007) Some taxonomic and nomenclatural considerations on the Class Reptilia in Australia. A new genus of the Family Chelidae from eastern Australia. "Australian Biodiversity Record", 2007(3), 1–12. ISSN 1325-2992
^ Georges, Arthur & Thomson, Scott (2010). "Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species". Zootaxa. 2496 (1): 1–37. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2496.1.1.
^ Fritz, U. & Havaš, P. (2007) Checklist of Chelonians of the World. Archived 2016-01-16 at the Wayback Machine Vertebrate Zoology (Dresden), 57, 149–368.
^ Pritchard, Peter; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Saumure, Raymond; Buhlmann, Kurt; Iverson, John & Mittermeier, Russell (2010). "Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises". Chelonian Research Monographs. doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v3.2010.
Fielder, D.; Vernes, K.; Alacs, E. & Georges, A. (2012). "Mitochondrial variation among Australian freshwater turtles (genus Myuchelys), with special reference to the Endangered M. bellii". Endangered Species Research. 17 (1): 63–71. doi:10.3354/esr00417.
Georges, A.; Spencer, R. J.; Welsh, M.; Shaffer, H. B.; Walsh, R. & Zhang, X. (2011). "Application of the precautionary principle to taxa of uncertain status: the case of the Bellinger River turtle". Endangered Species Research. 14 (2): 127–134. doi:10.3354/esr00350.
Le, Minh; Reid, Brendan N.; McCord, William P.; Naro-Maciel, Eugenia; Raxworthy, Christopher J.; Amato, George & Georges, Arthur (2013). "Resolving the phylogenetic history of the short-necked turtles, genera Elseya and Myuchelys (Testudines: Chelidae) from Australia and New Guinea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 68 (2): 251–258. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.03.023.

Side-necked turtle species

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Subclass: Anapsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Pleurodira

Acanthochelys

	Acanthochelys macrocephala Acanthochelys pallidipectoris Acanthochelys radiolata Acanthochelys spixii

Chelus

	Chelus fimbriata Chelus orinocensis †Chelus colombiana

Mesoclemmys

	Mesoclemmys dahli Mesoclemmys gibba Mesoclemmys jurutiensis Mesoclemmys nasuta Mesoclemmys perplexa Mesoclemmys raniceps Mesoclemmys sabiniparaensis Mesoclemmys tuberculata Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei †Mesoclemmys vanegasorum Mesoclemmys zuliae

Phrynops

	Phrynops geoffroanus Phrynops hilarii †Phrynops paranaensis Phrynops tuberosus Phrynops williamsi

Platemys

	Platemys platycephala

Ranacephala

	Ranacephala hogei

Rhinemys

	Rhinemys rufipes

Chelodininae

Chelodina

Chelodina	Chelodina canni Chelodina gunaleni Chelodina longicollis Chelodina mccordi †Chelodina murrayi Chelodina novaeguineae Chelodina pritchardi Chelodina reimanni Chelodina steindachneri
Chelydera	†Chelodina alanrixi Chelodina burrungandjii Chelodina expansa Chelodina insculpta Chelodina kuchlingi Chelodina kurrichalpongo Chelodina parkeri Chelodina rugosa Chelodina walloyarrina
Macrochelodina	Chelodina oblonga

Elseya

Elseya	Elseya dentata Elseya branderhorsti Elseya flaviventralis
Pelocomastes	Elseya albagula Elseya irwini Elseya lavarackorum †Elseya nadibajagu †Elseya uberrima
Hanwarachelys	Elseya caelatus Elseya novaeguineae Elseya orestiad Elseya rhodini Elseya schultzei

Elusor

	Elusor macrurus

Emydura

	Emydura australis Emydura gunaleni Emydura macquarii Emydura subglobosa Emydura tanybaraga Emydura victoriae

Myuchelys

	Myuchelys belli Myuchelys georgesi Myuchelys latisternum Myuchelys purvisi

Rheodytes

	Rheodytes leukops †Rheodytes devisi

Hydromedusinae

Hydromedusa

	Hydromedusa maximiliani Hydromedusa tectifera

Pseudemydurinae

Pseudemydura

	Pseudemydura umbrina

Pelomedusidae

Pelomedusa

	Pelomedusa subrufa

Pelusios

	Pelusios adansonii Pelusios bechuanicus Pelusios broadleyi Pelusios carinatus Pelusios castaneus Pelusios castanoides Pelusios chapini Pelusios cupulatta Pelusios gabonensis Pelusios marani Pelusios nanus Pelusios niger Pelusios rhodesianus Pelusios sinuatus Pelusios subniger Pelusios upembae Pelusios williamsi

Podocnemididae

Erymnochelys

	Erymnochelys madagascariensis

Peltocephalus

	Peltocephalus dumerilianus

Podocnemis

	Podocnemis erythrocephala Podocnemis expansa Podocnemis lewyana Podocnemis sextuberculata Podocnemis unifilis Podocnemis vogli

Phylogenetic arrangement of turtles based on Turtles of the World 2021 Update: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Key: †=extinct.

Testudines

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Diapsida
Order: Testudines

Genus

Chelonioidea
(Sea turtles)

Cheloniidae	†Allopleuron Caretta †Carolinochelys Chelonia †Eochelone Eretmochelys †Gigantatypus †Glarichelys †Itilochelys Lepidochelys †Mexichelys †Miocaretta Natator †Pacifichelys †Syllomus †Tasbacka
Dermochelyidae	†Arabemys †Corsochelys †Cosmochelys Dermochelys †Eosphargis †Mesodermochelys †Psephophorus
	†Euclastes †Peritresius †Procolpochelys †Protosphargis †Puppigerus

Kinosternoidea

Dermatemydidae	Dermatemys
Kinosternidae	Claudius †Hoplochelys Kinosternon Staurotypus Sternotherus

Testudinoidea

Emydidae	†Acherontemys Chrysemys Clemmys Deirochelys Emys Actinemys Emydoidea Glyptemys Graptemys Malaclemys Pseudemys Terrapene Trachemys †Wilburemys
Geoemydidae	Batagur †Banhxeochelys Cuora Cyclemys Geoclemys Geoemyda Hardella Heosemys Leucocephalon Malayemys Mauremys Melanochelys Morenia Notochelys Orlitia Pangshura Rhinoclemmys Sacalia Siebenrockiella Vijayachelys
Platysternidae	Platysternon
Testudinidae	Aldabrachelys Astrochelys Centrochelys Chelonoidis Chersina Cylindraspis †Cymatholcus †Floridemys Geochelone Gopherus †Hadrianus †Hesperotestudo Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria †Megalochelys †Oligopherus Psammobates Pyxis †Solitudo Stigmochelys †Stylemys Testudo

Trionychia

Carettochelyidae	†Allaeochelys †Anosteira Carettochelys
Trionychidae	Amyda Apalone †Axestemys Chitra Cyclanorbis Cycloderma †Drazinderetes Dogania †Gilmoremys †Hutchemys †Khunnuchelys Lissemys Nilssonia Palea †Palaeoamyda Pelochelys Pelodiscus Rafetus Trionyx
	†Basilochelys †Sinaspideretes

Chelydridae	Chelydra †Chelydrops †Chelydropsis †Emarginachelys †Macrocephalochelys Macrochelys †Planiplastron †Protochelydra
†Nanhsiungchelyidae	†Anomalochelys †Basilemys †Jiangxichelys
†Protostegidae	†Alienochelys †Archelon †Atlantochelys †Bouliachelys †Calcarichelys †Cratochelone †Desmatochelys †Iserosaurus †Notochelone †Ocepechelon †Pneumatoarthrus †Protostega †Rhinochelys †Santanachelys †Terlinguachelys
	†Adocus †Argillochelys †Bashuchelys †Ctenochelys †Prionochelys †Toxochelys

Pleurodira

†Araripemydidae	†Araripemys
†Bothremydidae	†Araiochelys †Arenila †Azabbaremys †Bothremys †Cearachelys †Chedighaii †Chupacabrachelys †Eotaphrosphys †Foxemys †Galianemys †Ilatardia †Inaechelys †Itapecuruemys †Jainemys †Kinkonychelys †Kurmademys †Labrostochelys †Nigeremys †Phosphatochelys †Polysternon †Puentemys †Rosasia †Rhothonemys †Sankuchemys †Taphrosphys †Ummulisani †Zolhafah
Chelidae	Acanthochelys Chelodina Chelus Elseya Elusor Emydura Hydromedusa †Lomalatachelys Mesoclemmys Myuchelys Phrynops Platemys †Prochelidella Pseudemydura Rheodytes Rhinemys †Yaminuechelys
Pelomedusidae	Pelomedusa Pelusios
Podocnemididae	†Albertwoodemys †Bauruemys †Brontochelys †Caninemys †Carbonemys †Cerrejonemys †Cordichelys Erymnochelys †Lapparentemys †Latentemys Peltocephalus Podocnemis †Stupendemys
†Sahonachelyidae	†Sahonachelys †Sokatra

	†Caribemys †Caririemys †Tacuarembemys

Phylogenetic arrangement of turtles based on Turtles of the World 2017 Update: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. † = extinct.

See also List of Testudines families

Taxon identifiers
Myuchelys	Wikidata: Q2437317 Wikispecies: Myuchelys BOLD: 669875 CoL: 63CF7 EoL: 10619186 GBIF: 4819060 iNaturalist: 90098 IRMNG: 1104451 ITIS: 949053 NCBI: 904236 Open Tree of Life: 469689 WoRMS: 1447996 ZooBank: 540D787B-5BB1-410B-B385-4264F863E22D

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