Emydura

Emydura, also known commonly as the Australian short-necked turtles, is a genus of turtles in the family Chelidae. The genus was paraphyletic with Elseya. Consequently, it was split into two genera Myuchelys and Elseya by Thomson and Georges in 2009. Turtles of the genus Emydura can grow quite large, 30 cm (12 in) or more is not unusual, and have a life span of around 20–30 years. They generally do not hibernate as their warmer climate lets them remain active all year round; they also spend more time in the water than other turtles. They are considered omnivorous but rely on a constant supply of meat to remain healthy, feeding on basically anything that will fit into their mouth. They are characterised by a white stripe starting at the nose and leading down the neck, as well as a more ridged shell. In Australia, the public require a basic reptiles licence to purchase these turtles; taking from the wild is strictly prohibited.

Emydura

Peripitus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ChelidaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Chelidae
Life habit
amphibious, solitaryPBDB, for Chelidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Chelidae

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 15 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 15 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 2 of 15 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 15 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 2 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 15 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 15 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka74 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Emydura on record, most of them in the Oligocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

15 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Namba — 31.17°S, 140.23°ENamba — 30.14°S, 140.11°EEtadunna — 28.78°S, 138.42°ELos Alamitos — 41.95°S, 66.33°WCondor Oil Shale — 20.45°S, 148.61°ERedbank Plains — 27.65°S, 152.87°EWipajiri — 27.75°S, 140.73°ERundle — 23.65°S, 150.98°EMoorna — 34.12°S, 141.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Emydura has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Emydura and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Emydura and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

237 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Emydura, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 15 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Emydura

Credit
Peripitus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Emydura was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itChelidae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1836