Chelidae

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

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Kingdom Animalia Suborder Pleurodira Phylum Chordata Rank Family		Order Testudines Scientific name Chelidae Higher classification Pleurodira

Lower classifications Roti Island snake‑necked turtle, Chelodina, Eastern long‑necked turtle, Mata mata, Emydura

The Chelidae are one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira and are commonly called the Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South America. It is a large family of turtles with a significant fossil history dating back to the Cretaceous. The family is entirely Gondwanan in origin, with no members found outside of Gondwana, either in the present day or as a fossil.

Chelidae Carettochelydae and Chelidae Information Network

Description

Like all pleurodirous turtles, the chelids withdraw their necks sideways into their shells, differing from cryptodires that fold their necks in the vertical plane. They are all highly aquatic species with webbed feet and the capacity to stay submerged for long periods of time. The snake-necked species (genera Chelus, Chelodina, and Hydromedusa) are largely strike-and-gape hunters or foragers feeding on fish, invertebrates, and gastropods. The short-necked forms are largely herbivorous or molluscivorous, but are also opportunistic, with several species having specialized to eating fruits.

The highly aquatic nature of the group is typified by the presence of cloacal breathing in some species of the genera Elseya and Rheodytes. However, some species, such as the eastern long-neck turtle (Chelodina longicollis) from Australia spend significant periods of time on land and are considered highly terrestrial.

Chelidae australian chelidae Turtle Identification Turtle Forum

The smaller members of the family include the Macleay river turtle (Emydura macquarii) at around 16 cm, twist-necked turtle (Platemys platycephala) at 18 cm and the western swamp turtle (Pseudemydura umbrina) at 15 cm, whereas the larger species such as the mata mata (Chelus fimbriata) and the white-throated snapping turtle (Elseya albagula) both exceed 45 cm in shell length.

Classification

Chelidae Biology of the Reptilia Reptiles lab 2 Turtles Thompson amp Serna

A number of theories of the relationships within the large chelid family have been posited. Using shared derived characters, an early attempt in the 1970s used strict parsimony to determine the three long-necked genera (Chelodina, Chelus, and Hydromedusa) were each other'S closest relatives. This was accepted for some time, but brought into scrutiny, because the major differences between the genera showed they all appeared to have evolved independently of each other, hinging on the fact that although they had long necks, how they used them and their structures were different.

A number of additional data sets were developed that used electrophoresis and nuclear and mtDNA analysis; these all agreed on the independent evolution of the three long-necked clades. This was culminated in a reanalysis of the morphological data which demonstrated the convergence of the clades on a sweep of distinctive features needed for their piscivorous diets, Thomson, 2000. The subfamilies within Chelidae show the monophyly of the majority of the South American species and all the Australian species, with the far more ancient Hydromedusa as sister taxon to both these other groups.

The family Chelidae contains about 60 species within around 20 genera:

Suborder Pleurodira

Family Pelomedusidae

Family Podocnemididae

Family CHELIDAE Gray, 1831

Subfamily Chelodininae Baur 1893

Genus †Birlimarr Megirian and Murray 1999

Genus Chelodina Fitzinger 1826 – Australian snake-necked turtles

Genus Elseya Gray 1867 – Australian snapping turtles

Genus Emydura Bonaparte 1836 – Australian short-necked turtles

Genus Elusor, Cann & Legler, 1994 – Mary River turtle

Genus Flaviemys Le et al., 2013 yellow-faced saw-shelled turtles

Genus Myuchelys Thomson & Georges 2009 – Australian saw-shelled turtles

Genus Pseudemydura Siebenrock 1901 – western swamp tortoise

Genus Rheodytes Legler and Cann, 1980 – Fitzroy River turtles

Subfamily Chelinae Gray, 1825

Genus Chelus Duméril 1806 – matamata turtles

Genus Acanthochelys Gray, 1873 – South American side-necked swamp turtles

Genus Mesoclemmys – Gibba turtle

Genus Phrynops – toad-headed turtles

Genus Platemys Wagner 1830 – twist-necked turtles

Genus Rhinemys – red-headed side-necked turtle

Genus †Bonapartemys Lapparent de Broin and de la Fuente 2001

Genus †Lomalatachelys Lapparent de Broin and de la Fuente 2001

Genus †Prochelidella Lapparent de Broin and de la Fuente 2001

Genus †Palaeophrynops Lapparent de Broin and de la Fuente 2001

Genus †Parahydraspis Wieland 1923

Genus †Linderochelys de la Fuente et al. 2007

Subfamily Hydromedusinae Baur, 1893

Genus Hydromedusa Wagler 1830 – South American snake-necked turtles

Genus †Yaminuechelys de la Fuente et al. 2001

Phylogeny

Relationships of the living forms based on Georges et al., 2014.

References

Chelidae Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

Description

Classification

Phylogeny

References