The oblong turtle (Chelodina oblonga), also known commonly as the narrow-breasted snake-necked turtle,[4] southwestern snake-necked turtle,[4] (western) long-neck(ed) turtle,[5][6] and as yaakan or booyi in Noongar language,[7][8] is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is endemic to the southwestern part of Western Australia.[9]

The species has been successfully bred in captivity in Cologne Zoological Garden, and the estimated life span is 30-40 years.[10]

While all turtles are popularly believed to be mute, the oblong turtle is known to have a wide range of vocalizations.[11]

Description

Oblong turtles usually have a carapace length of under 30 cm, but have been recorded with a carapace length of up to 40 cm. Hatchlings will have a carapace length of 30 mm.[10]

Distribution and habitat

The natural distribution of the oblong turtle is southwestern Australia, from the Fitzgerald River National Park in the south-eastern edge of the distribution, up to Jurien Bay (Hill River) in the north. There is also a suspected introduced population around Geraldton, another 170 km north of Jurien Bay.[12]

The oblong turtle lives in a wide range of freshwater habitats, including wetlands, lakes and rivers. They are known to be capable of living in urban and agricultural environments, such as urban lakes and dams. The turtle is an opportunistic carnivore, feeding mainly on macro-invertebrates, but also carrion, frogs and fish. Hatchlings may eat mosquito larvae and aquatic plants as well.[10]

Etymology

The specific name/epithet, oblonga, comes directly from the Latin word oblonga (or oblongum), meaning "long, elongated, or oblong." This refers to the oblong-shaped shell of the species.

Hybridization with other species

Several non-native species of freshwater turtles have been introduced to the Perth region, including the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), Murray River turtle (Emydura macquarii), and eastern snake-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis).[12] These are likely to be pet animals that have been released into waterways or lakes after being transported from the eastern side of the country.

While a pattern of isolation-by-distance drives population genomic structure across the oblong turtle distribution, several populations were found to contain hybrid individuals of Chelodina longicollis x oblonga.[12] Some of these individuals appeared to show genetic ancestry consistent with backcrossing between an F1 hybrid C. longicollis x oblonga and a pure C. oblonga individual, suggesting that hybrid offspring are fertile. The implications of this gene flow from C. longicollis into C. oblonga are currently unclear. It is also possible that oblong turtles are being moved across Australia, evidenced by the introduced population around Geraldton.

Taxonomic history

This species has a very complicated taxonomic history, involving many uses of the available names and a number of mistakes in that usage.[13][14] In his original concept of the two species involved Gray 1841[2] and 1856[3] clearly diagnosed two species, one from northern and one from southwestern Australia. However these were considered a single wide-ranging species by Boulenger 1889.[15] This mistaken concept was followed for some time but was reviewed by Burbidge (1967).[16] Unfortunately they had mixed the names up as was brought out first by Thomson (2000)[13] and has been summarised also by Kuchling (2010).[14]

A submission to the ICZN was put in by Thomson (2006)[17] to maintain the prevailing usage of Chelodina rugosa over the name Chelodina oblonga for the northern snake-necked turtle with further comments by several authors. In 2013 the ICZN handed down its opinion[18] on the issue where they deemed that the Principle of Priority should be followed. According to that ruling, the correct name for the northern snake-necked turtle was Chelodina oblonga and for the south-western snake-necked turtle is Chelodina colliei. Although that ruling required considerable effort over the ensuing 12 months to establish this nomenclature, subsequent research has reversed this finding with respect to Chelodina oblonga.

Kehlmaier et al. (2019)[19] analyzed mitochondrial genomes of key type specimens and resolved several questions regarding taxonomy and nomenclature. They declared Chelodina oblonga a nomen dubium, affirmed Chelodina colliei as the southwestern snake-necked turtle, and called for the name Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 to be restored to the northern snake-necked turtle. This finding was supported by the findings of Shea et al. (2020) that the supposed holotype of Chelodina oblonga was in fact part of a type series and molecular work showed it was in fact from Perth. This led to a more detailed examination of its history and the determination that it was indeed the southwestern snake-necked turtle.[4] Thus, the correct name scientific names are Chelodina oblonga for the southwestern snake-necked turtle and Chelodina rugosa for the northern, snake-necked turtle.[19][4]

Synonymy

Synonymy of Chelodina oblonga, and redescriptions of the type specimens, per Shea, Thomson and Georges (2020):

  • Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841: 446 (misidentified type sensu Thomson 2000[13])
  • Chelodina colliei Gray, 1856: 200[3]
    • Chelodina colliei — Thomson, 2006
    • Macrodiremys oblonga — McCord & Joseph-Ouni, 2007[20]
    • Chelodina (Macrodiremys) colliei — Georges & Thomson, 2010
    • Chelodina (Macrodiremys) colliei — TTWG, 2014
    • Chelodina colliei — Kehlmaier et al., 2019:6
    • Chelodina (Macrochelodina) oblonga — Shea et al., 2020

References

  1. ↑ Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk, P.P., Iverson, J.B., Shaffer, H.B., Bour, R., and Rhodin, A.G.J.] (2012). Turtles of the World, 2012 update: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 000.243–000.328, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v5.2012, .
  2. 1 2 Gray, J.E. (1841). "A catalogue of the species of reptiles and amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some new species from Western Australia, and some remarks on their geographical distribution". pp. 422–449. In: Grey, G. (editor) Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in Northwest and Western Australia, vol. 2. Appendix. London: E.T. and W. Boone.
  3. 1 2 3 Gray, John Edward ("1855"). "On some new species of freshwater tortoises from North America, Ceylon and Australia, in the collection of the British Museum". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 23: 197–202. [Published Feb. 1856].
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Shea, G., Thomson, S. & Georges, A. (2020). "The identity of Chelodina oblonga Gray 1841 (Testudines: Chelidae) reassessed". Zootaxa 4779(3): 419–437. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4779.3.9. PDF
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Palmer, Dave, for Moodjar Consultancy (February 2021). "Alkimos Aboriginal Heritage Survey: Cultural survey (page 23)". Environmental Assessment and Management Strategy: Alkimos Central Precinct Plan (PDF) (Report). Emerge Associates. Project No: EP19-077(06). Retrieved 27 October 2024. Swan River ... swamp systems were said to have been abundant with many foods such as water birds, koolya (frogs), gilgies (freshwater crayfish), yaagan (turtle), and a range of edible plants.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Karnovsky, Carolyn; Priemus, Jessica (2023). Victoria Park - Canning Level Crossing Removal (LXR): Public Art Plan (PDF) (Report). Emerge Associates. p. 22. ALUA document no: LXR-PW-Z0-GN-PM-ARS-PLN-00001 / PTA document no: LXR-ALUA-AS-PLN-00001. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  8. ↑ "Turtle Study at Hyde Park » City of Vincent". www.vincent.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  9. 1 2 3 "South-western snake-necked turtle - Chelodina oblonga". rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au.
  10. ↑ Giles, Jacqueline C.; Davis, Jenny; McCauley, Robert D.; Kuchling, Gerald (2009). "Voice of the Turtle: The Underwater Acoustic Repertoire of the Long-necked Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina oblonga". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 126 (1): 434–443. Bibcode:2009ASAJ..126..434G. doi:10.1121/1.3148209. PMID 19603900.
  11. 1 2 3 von Takach, Brenton; Santoro, Anthony; Sturm, April L.; Thorn, Kailah M.; Beatty, Stephen J. (2026-07-10). "Oblong turtles hybridise with an introduced congener and display a size-heterozygosity relationship". Conservation Genetics. 27 (4): 91. doi:10.1007/s10592-026-01823-5. ISSN 1572-9737.
  12. 1 2 3 Thomson, S.A. (2000). "The identification of the holotype of Chelodina oblonga (Testudines: Chelidae) with a discussion of taxonomic implications". Chelonian Conservation and Biology 3: 745–749.
  13. 1 2 Kuchling, G. (2010). "Taxonomy and nomenclature of the longneck turtle (genus Chelodina) from south-western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum 25: 449–454.
  14. ↑ Boulenger, G.A. (1889). Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians, and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). New Edition. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). x + 311 pp. + Plates I-VI. (Chelodina oblonga, pp. 216-217).
  15. ↑ Burbidge, A.A. (1967). The biology of south western Australian tortoises. PhD thesis, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
  16. ↑ Thomson, S.A. (2006). "Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines): proposed precedence over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 63: 187–193.
  17. ↑ ICZN (2013). "Opinion 2315 (Case 3351). Chelodina rugosa Ogilby, 1890 (currently Macrochelodina rugosa; Reptilia, Testudines): precedence not granted over Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 70 (1): 57-60.
  18. 1 2 Kehlmaier, Christian; Zhang, Xiuwen; Georges, Arthur; Campbell, Patrick D.; Thomson, Scott; Fritz, Uwe (2019). "Mitogenomics of historical type specimens of Australasian turtles: clarification of taxonomic confusion and old mitochondrial introgression". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 5841. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42310-x. PMC 6456567. PMID 30967590.
  19. ↑ McCord, William P.; Joseph-Ouni, Mehdi (2007b). "A new genus of Australian longneck turtle (Testudines: Chelidae) and a new species of Macrochelodina from the Kimberley region of Western Australia (Australia)". Reptilia (GB) (Barcelona) 55: 56–64.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_snake-necked_turtle