''Emydura victoriae'', also known commonly as the red-faced turtle, Victoria short-necked turtle and Victoria River turtle, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of medium-sized aquatic turtle in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

. The species inhabits rivers, streams and permanent water bodies 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 ...

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''victoriae'', refers to the

Victoria River (Northern Territory) The Victoria River is a river in the Victoria Bonaparte bioregion of the Northern Territory, Australia. Location and features Flowing for from its source, south of the Judbarra / Gregory National Park, until it enters Joseph Bonaparte Gulf ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Emydura victoriae'', p. 275).

Taxonomy

The species ''E. victiriae'' has a disrupted nomenclatural history. For many years it appeared in the literature as ''Emydura australis'' (Gray 1841: 445)Gray, John Edward (1841). "A catalogue of the species of reptiles and amphibia hitherto described as inhabiting Australia, with a description of some new species from Western Australia, and some remarks on their geographical distribution". ''In'': Grey, G. ''Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in Northwest and Western Australia''. London: T. and W. Boone, Vol. 2. Appendix E, pp. 422–449. however in 1983 this name was synonymised with ''Emydura macquarii'', incorrectly according to Iverson et al. 2001.Iverson, John B., Arthur Georges and Scott Thomson (2001). "The validity of the taxonomic changes for turtles proposed by Wells and Wellington". ''Journal of Herpetology'' 35: 361-368
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/ref> Since this time the species has been known as ''Emydura victoriae'' this name too has nomenclatural issues and it is possible the names may eventually be reversed again.

Synonymy

*''Hydraspis victoriae''

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

1842: 55 *''Chelymys victoriae'' — Gray 1872: 21 *''Emydura victoriae'' — Worrell 1964: 17 *''Tropicochelymys victoriae'' —

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, 1985: 9 *''Emydura victoria''

Cann Cann may refer to: *Cann (surname), a list of people with the name *Cann River, a river of Victoria, Australia *Cann, Dorset, a village in England *Edward du Cann, British businessman and politician *Claire and Antoinette Cann pianists, known as t ...

, 1997: 28 ''(

ex errore This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Note that many of the abbreviat ...

)'' ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': Synonyms without dashes are new taxa; synonyms with dashes are just new combinations.

References

Emydura Reptiles described in 1842 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Turtles of Australia {{Turtle-stub