Elseya uberrima

Elseya uberrima is an Eocene species of extinct Australian snapping turtle.

Elseya uberrima
Temporal range: Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Pleurodira
Family: Chelidae
Genus: Elseya
Subgenus: Pelocomastes
Species:
E. uberrima
Binomial name
Elseya uberrima
(De Vis, 1897)

Taxonomy

During his time at the Queensland Museum, Charles Walter De Vis described a number of fossil turtles from the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia.[1] All four species described were declared a single diagnosable species by Thomson, 2000.[1]

To avoid confusion the synonymy for the species is as follows:

  • Elseya uberrima (De Vis, 1897[2])
    • Chelymys uberrima De Vis, 1897: 3[2]
    • Chelymys antiqua De Vis 1897: 4[2]
    • Chelymys arata De Vis 1897: 5[2]
    • Pelocomastes ampla De Vis 1897: 6–7[2]

This synonymy has made the genus name Pelocomastes a junior synonym of Elseya and in their recent revision of that genus Thomson et al. (2015)[3] resurrected Pelocomastes as a subgenus to represent the Queensland clade of the Elseya. Therefore, Elseya (Pelocomastes) uberrima is the type species for this subgenus.

A) Lectotype of Elseya uberrima; B) lectotype of Elseya arata; C-D) dorsal and ventral views of the lectotype of Pelocomastes ampla.

References
  1. Thomson SA. 2000. A Revision of the Fossil Chelid Turtles (Pleurodira) Described by C.W. De Vis, 1897. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 45 (2): 593–598. (Brisbane).
  2. De Vis CW. 1897. The extinct freshwater turtles of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 3: 3–7.
  3. Thomson, S., Amepou, Y., Anamiato, J. & Georges, A. 2015. A new species and subgenus of Elseya (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from New Guinea. Zootaxa 4006(1):59–82. Preview (PDF)
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