Emydura macquarii
| Emydura macquarii Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Macquarie turtle Emydura macquarii | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Pleurodira |
| Family: | Chelidae |
| Genus: | Emydura |
| Species: | E. macquarii
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| Binomial name | |
| Emydura macquarii | |
| Subspecies | |
| Synonyms[6][7] | |
|
E. m. macquarii (Gray 1830)
E. m. emmotti Cann, McCord & Joseph-Ouni in Mc-Cord, Cann & Joseph-Ouni 2003
E. m. krefftii (Gray 1871)
E. m. nigra McCord, Cann & Joseph-Ouni 2003
| |
Emydura macquarii, also known as the Murray River turtle, Macquarie River turtle, eastern short-necked turtle, eastern short-neck turtle, and southern river turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Chelidae. Named after the Macquarie River of New South Wales, the turtle is a wide-ranging species that occurs throughout many of the rivers of the eastern half of Australia.
Etymology and taxonomy
[edit]The generic name, Emydura, is derived from the Greek emys (freshwater turtle) and the Greek oura (tail), Latinized to ura. Its grammatical gender is feminine. The specific epithet, macquarii, refers to the turtle's type locality: the Macquarie River. It would seem that the species was not named after Governor Lachlan Macquarie, for whom the river is named.[8][9]
The species' common names include Murray River turtle,[10] Macquarie River turtle,[11] eastern short-necked turtle, eastern short-neck turtle, and southern river turtle.[12]
The subspecific name, emmotti, is in honour of Australian farmer and naturalist Angus Emmott (born 1962).[9]
The subspecific name, krefftii, is in honour of German-born Australian naturalist Gerard Krefft.[9]
A species formerly thought to be a separate species, the Bellinger River Emydura is now considered synonymous with the Macquarie River turtle.[5]
The species Emydura macquarii is in the family Chelidae.[5]
Collection history and discovery
[edit]This species, Emydura macquarii, has a long and complicated nomenclatural history, including even its original description. The holotype was originally collected by René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849) and Prosper Garnot (1794–1838) in 1824. During an expedition on the La Coquille, captained by Louis Isidore Duperrey, which visited Sydney, Australia, from 17 January to 25 March 1824, they visited Bathurst, and collected the holotype from the Macquarie River.[8]
The first description of the species, as Emys macquaria, was offered by Baron Georges Cuvier in 1829,[13]: 11 but this description is nowadays seen as a nomen nudum. Hence, the description, as Chelys (Hydraspis) macquarii, by John Edward Gray in 1830, is considered the valid description.[1]: 15
Geographic range
[edit]Emydura macquarii is found across several states:
- in the coastal Queensland rivers and the Cooper Creek ecosystem, along with Fraser Island and Brisbane[10]
- in the Macquarie River basin and all its major tributaries, along with a number of coastal rivers up the New South Wales coast[10]
- in northern Victoria[10]
- in South Australia, in the billabongs and channels of Cooper Creek, and also along the Murray River; also, introduced populations in the Adelaide city area[11]
Description and habitat
[edit]
The Macquarie River turtle is almost entirely aquatic. Its intergular plate reaches the front edge of the shell, while its plastrons are "cut away", allowing their legs to move freely and thus swim powerfully.[11]
Feeding
[edit]The Macquarie River turtle is omnivorous. Its diet includes small crustaceans, aquatic insects, filamentous algae, and possibly aquatic weeds.[5]
Life cycle and sex determination
[edit]The Macquarie River turtle nests from October to early January, and multiple clutches of eggs may be laid, in nests excavated in the riverbanks.[5]
Emydura macquarii uses the XY sex-determination system, making it one of the few turtle species that has a genetic sex-determination mechanism. The X and Y chromosomes are macrochromosomes, unlike most genetically sex-determined turtles including its close relative Chelodina longicollis, which has microchromosomes. It is also hypothesised that this turtle's sex chromosomes were formed from the translocation of an ancestral Y microchromosome onto an autosome. It can often be difficult to determine the gender of a turtle when it is young, but it becomes more apparent when it grows.[14]
Importance
[edit]Turtles are an important element of the river ecosystem owing to their feeding on dead fish after a fish kill event, returning ammonia and dissolved oxygen to the river much faster than by natural decomposition (3–6 days vs 25–27 days).[15]
Conservation status and efforts
[edit]Threats to the turtles' habitat include water pollution and increased sediment loads from nearby agriculture and forestry activities, construction of bridges and fords, extraction of river sand and gravel, clearing and degradation of riparian vegetation, water diversion, and changes to river flows. Foxes (an introduced species in Australia) and goannas may eat the eggs,[5] and foxes may eat the turtles as well. In South Australia, river system regulation and roadkill are also considered threats to the species.[15]
Efforts to protect the species include the use of professional shooters to kill foxes; working with local councils to build nesting islands, and improving monitoring of species.[15]
Emydura macquarii is listed as "vulnerable" in the state of South Australia under relevant state legislation.[16] After it was found that freshwater turtle numbers had declined by up to 91 per cent some sections of the Murray, conservation efforts increased, with the Government of South Australia allocating $450,000 to help establish the state's first turtle management plan, dubbed the "Together Understanding and Restoring Turtles in our Landscapes and Ecosystems" (TURTLE) project. A management strategy is being developed in collaboration with First Nations people, for whom the turtles have great cultural significance, along with environmental experts.[15]
Parasites
[edit]Emydura macquarii is often infected with the flatworm Choanocotyle elegans.[17]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Gray JE (1830). "A synopsis of the species of the class Reptilia". pp. 1–110. In: Griffith E (1830). The Animal Kingdom arranged in Conformity with its Organisation by the Baron Cuvier, Volume the Ninth. London: Whitaker and Treacher and Co. 481 + 110 pp.
- ^ Gray JE (1871). "Notes on Australian freshwater tortoises". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Fourth Series 8: 366.
- ^ McCord W, Cann J, Joseph-Uoni M (2003). "Fraser Island short-neck turtle, Emydura macquarii nigra ssp. nov." Reptilia 27: 62–63.
- ^ Cann J, McCord W, Joseph-Uoni M (2003). "Emmort's short-neck turtle, Emydura macquarii emmotti ssp. nov." Reptilia 27: 60–61.
- ^ a b c d e f "Emydura macquarii macquarii — Macquarie River Turtle". Species Profile and Threats Database. Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Government. 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) licence.
- ^ Georges A, Thomson S (2010). "Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species". Zootaxa 2496: 1–37.
- ^ Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [ van Dijk PP, Iverson JB, Rhodin AGJ, Shaffer HB, Bour R ]. (2014). "Turtles of the World, 7th edition: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution with maps, and conservation status". In: Rhodin AGJ, Pritchard PCH, van Dijk PP, Saumure RA, Buhlmann KA, Iverson JB, Mittermeier RA (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 5 (7): 000.329–479, doi:10.3854/ crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014.
- ^ a b Cann J (1998). Australian Freshwater Turtles. Singapore: Beumont Publishing. p. 101. ISBN 978-0646339788.
- ^ a b c Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Emydura macquarii, p. 165; E. m. emmotti, p. 83; E. m. krefftii, p. 146).
- ^ a b c d Species "Emydura macquarii " at The Reptile Database
- ^ a b c Hutchinson, Mark (2018). Freshwater Turtles of South Australia (PDF). South Australian Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2018.
- ^ Rhodin, Anders G.J.; Iverson, John B.; Roger, Bour; Fritz, Uwe; Georges, Arthur; Shaffer, H. Bradley; van Dijk, Peter Paul (3 August 2017). "Turtles of the World, 2017 update: Annotated checklist and atlas of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status (8th Ed.)" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 7: 197. ISBN 978-1-5323-5026-9. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ Cuvier GLCFD (1829). Le Regne Animal. Vol. 2 XV. Paris: Deterville, p. 406 (ii).
- ^ Martinez, Pedro Alonzo; Ezaz, Tariq; Valenzuela, Nicole; Georges, Arthur; Graves, Jennifer A. Marshall (9 August 2008). "An XX/XY heteromorphic sex chromosome system in the Australian chelid turtle Emydura macquarii: A new piece in the puzzle of sex chromosome evolution in turtles". Chromosome Research. 16 (6): 815–825. doi:10.1007/s10577-008-1228-4. ISSN 0967-3849. PMID 18679815. S2CID 18834902.
- ^ a b c d Schremmer, Jessica (19 April 2025). "Aboriginal rangers fight to save River Murray's native freshwater turtles". ABC News. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "Emydura macquarii". Atlas of Living Australia. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.
- ^ Sue, Lindsay Jue (1998). "Description and life-cycle of two new species of Choanocotyle n. g. (Trematoda: Plagiorchiida), parasites of Australian freshwater turtles, and the erection of the family Choanocotylidae". Systematic Parasitology 41 (1): 47–61. doi:10.1023/A:1006074125118
Further reading
[edit]- Cogger, H.G. (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 978-0643100350. xxx + 1,033 pp.
- Wilson, S.; Swan, G. (2023). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Sixth Edition. Sydney: Reed New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-92554-671-2. 688 pp. (Emydura macquarii, pp. 50–51).