Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Vertebrata Order Testudines Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Class Reptilia Suborder Pleurodira | |
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Similar New Guinea snapping, Elseya branderhorsti, Elseya rhodini, Manning River snapping, Elseya | ||
Elseya schultzei, commonly known as Schultze's snapping turtle, is a species of chelid turtle endemic to New Guinea and Indonesia.
Contents
Etymology
The specific name, schultzei, is in honor of German ethnographer Leonhard Schultze.
Taxonomy
E. schultzei has been largely considered as the same species as Elseya novaeguineae. However, recent studies such as Todd et al. (2013) and Georges et al. (2014) have shown that the species is distinct. Therefore, in their recent revision of the New Guinea Elseya the species was resurrected and restricted to the regions north of the Central Ranges of New Guinea.
Geographic range
E. schulzei is found in New Guinea and Indonesia to the north of the central mountain ranges. It is separated geographically from Elseya novaeguineae, which is only found in West Irian, Indonesia, to the west of the central range and from Elseya rhodini which is only found to the south of the central ranges.