Namoi River snapping turtle

Namoi River snapping turtle
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)[1][2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Pleurodira
Family:	Chelidae
Subfamily:	Chelodininae
Genus:	Myuchelys
Species:	M. bellii
Binomial name
Myuchelys bellii (Gray, 1844)[1][3]
Synonyms[4][5]
Phrynops bellii Gray, 1844 Hydraspis bellii — Gray, 1855 Elseya bellii — Cann, 1998 Wollumbinia bellii — Wells, 2007 Myuchelys bellii — Thomson & Georges, 2009

The Namoi River snapping turtle (Myuchelys bellii), also commonly known as Bell's turtle, Namoi River elseya, or Bell's saw-shelled turtle, is a species of turtle in the Chelidae family.^[1][2][6] It is endemic to New South Wales, Australia.

Etymology

The specific name, bellii, and some of the common names, are in honor of English zoologist Thomas Bell.^[7]

Geographic range

M. bellii occurs in the upper reaches of the Namoi, Gwydir, Macdonald, and Severn Rivers in northern New South Wales, Australia.^[2][4][8]

References

1. Rhodin 2011, p. 000.213.
2. "Elseya bellii (Bell's turtle, Bell's snapping surtle, Namoi River snapping turtle)". IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
3. Gray, John Edward. 1844. Catalogue of the Tortoises, Crocodiles, and Amphisbænians, in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). viii + 80 pp. (Phrynops bellii, pp. 41-42).
4. Fritz 2007, p. 328.
5. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
6. "Approved Conservation Advice for Elseya belli (Bell's turtle)" (PDF). 26 March 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
7. 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. (Elseya bellii, p. 22).
8. Threatened Species of the New England Tablelands & NW Slopes of NSW, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, 2003, ISBN 0-7313-6673-5.

Further reading

• Cann J. 1998. Australian Freshwater Turtles. Singapore: Beaumont Publishing. 292 pp. ISBN 978-9810406868.
• Fritz, Uwe; Havaš, Peter (2007). "Checklist of Chelonians of the World". Vertebrate Zoology. 57 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-17.
• Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Iverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Bour, Roger (2011-12-31). "Turtles of the World, 2011 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution and Conservation Status". Chelonian Research Monographs. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-22.
• Thomson S, Georges A. 2009. "Myuchelys gen nov. — a new genus for Elseya latisternum and related forms of Australian freshwater turtle (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae)". Zootaxa 2053: 32-42.
• Wells RW. 2007. "Some taxonomic and nomenclatural considerations on the class Reptilia in Australia. A new genus of the family Chelidae from eastern Australia". Australian Biodiversity Record (3): 1-13.

External links

• Bell's turtle from the Government of Queensland