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COMMON NAME: Short Neck
Turtle
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Emydura macquarii
FAMILY: Chelidae
GENUS: Emydura
STATUS: Secure
SIZE (cm): 30
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DESCRIPTION: Also known as the Murray Turtle. Olive
brown or dark brown above, white or yellowish below. No pale temporal
stripe, or occasionally a discontinuous one; a pale yellowish strip
along the lower jaw to the side of the neck and just contacting the
rim of the tympanum. Length of mandibular symphysis more or less equal
to the horizontal diameter of the tympanum. Shell above broadly oval,
moderately expanded posteriorly and a serrated hind edge in juveniles.
Plastron moderate, about twice as long as broad, the front end rear
lobes tapering gently from the bridge. Intergular shied a little longer
than broad, about as broad as each gular shield. Head rather small.
Macrocephaly uncommon. 30 cm.
PREFERRED HABITAT: Murray/Darling River System and
associated drainages west of the Great Dividing Range in south-eastern
Australia and coastal rivers between Brisbane and Sydney.
MICROHABITAT: Restricted to larger rivers and associated
large water holes of the floodplains. Summer breeder. About ten elongate,
brittle eggs are laid in a chamber dug high on a riverbank. Feeds
on crustaceans, molluscs and fishes.
AVAILABILITY: Click
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