The northern yellow-faced turtle (''Emydura tanybaraga'') is a
species of medium-sized aquatic turtle in the
family Chelidae
Chelidae is one of three living families of the turtle suborder Pleurodira, and are commonly called Austro-South American side-neck turtles. The family is distributed in Australia, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and throughout most of South Amer ...
. It inhabits slow-flowing rivers, streams,
billabongs and paperbark swamps across much of northern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
''E. tanybaraga'' has a great morphological variation between different locations; adults are very similar in appearance to ''
E. subglobosa''.
A light yellow band runs from the eye to just above the
tympanum. Another band extends from the angle of the mouth along the neck. The eye has dark markings through the iris at the level of the pupil.
[
The ]carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
of juveniles is pear-shaped and becomes oval in adults. It is light brown to dark brown in color, with a yellow or white rim. The posterior rim is smooth, without serrations. The longest carapace recorded is 285 mm. The plastron is tapered towards the rear with lobes at both ends turned up making the adult turtle look deeper. It is bone colored, occasionally with traces of pink.[
The color of the dorsal skin is gray, and the ventral skin is creamy white or yellow in juveniles. As with other species of ''Emydura'', the neck is covered with small smooth tubercles. Two barbels are sometimes found on the chin.][
]
References
tanybaraga
Reptiles described in 1997
Turtles of Australia
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