''Chelodina'' (''Chelydera'') ''burrungandjii'', the sandstone snake-necked turtle or Arnhem Land long-necked turtle, is a medium-sized turtle reaching carapace lengths of 316 mm.Thomson, S., Kennett, R., Tucker, A., FitzSimmons, N.N., Featherston, P., Alacs, E.A., and Georges, A. (2011). ''Chelodina burrungandjii'' Thomson, Kennett, and Georges 2000 – Sandstone Snake-Necked Turtle. In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
Chelonian Research Monographs
No. 5, pp. 056.1–056.7. The species is found in the sandstone plateaus and escarpments and the plunge pools of

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

of the Northern Territory. The species had been long recognised as valid. However, it had been difficult to research due to the remoteness of its habitat. Efforts to breed this species in captivity had been largely unsuccessful, until National Aquarium Herpetologist Matthew Benedict lead a successful breeding project in 2021. The species occurs in proximity to ''

Chelodina rugosa The northern snake-necked turtle or northern long-necked turtle (''Chelodina (Chelydera) rugosa'') is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae or Austro-South American Side-necked Turtles. It is native to northern Australia and southern New Gu ...

'', to which it is closely related. For the most part the two species are parapatric in distribution. However, they do come together in limited locations such as plunge pools at the base of the escarpments. In these areas there is hybridization between the species.

Taxonomy

When initially described, populations in the Kimberley Region were also assigned to this species. The closest relatives of the sandstone longneck turtle are ''

Chelodina walloyarrina ''Chelodina walloyarrina'', the Kimberley long neck turtle,Kimberley snake-necked turtle, is a large species of long neck turtle endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state ...

'' and ''

'', and along with ''

Chelodina expansa ''Chelodina'' (''Chelydera'') ''expansa'', commonly known as the broad-shelled river turtle or the broad-shelled snake-necked turtle, is a pleurodiran freshwater turtle and is the largest of the long-necked turtles. The broad-shelled river turtl ...

'', ''

Chelodina kuchlingi ''Chelodina'' (''Chelydera'') ''kuchlingi'', commonly known as Kuchling's long-necked turtle or Kuchling's turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Etymology The specific name, ''ku ...

'' and '' Chelodina parkeri'' they make up the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

'' Chelydera''Shea, G., Thomson, S. & Georges, A. 2020. The identity of ''Chelodina oblonga'' Gray 1841 (Testudines: Chelidae) reassessed. ''Zootaxa'' 4779(3): 419–437. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4779.3.9
PDF
/ref>Georges, A. & Thomson, S. (2010)
Diversity of Australasian freshwater turtles, with an annotated synonymy and keys to species.
''Zootaxa'' 2496: 1–37. which are strike and gape piscivores with reduced plastra, enlarged back feet and legs and flattened heads with large mouths. They are differentiated from the

'' Chelodina'', which have more complete plastrons, smaller necks and are not strike and gape predators. The last group in the ''Chelodina'' is '' Macrochelodina'' containing a single species '' Chelodina colliei'' from south-west Australia. This species is similar to the South American '' Hydromedusa'' in many respects.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar , from=Q2710545 Chelydera Turtles of Australia Reptiles described in 2000 Taxa named by Scott A. Thomson