The Roti Island snake-necked turtle (''Chelodina mccordi''), also commonly known as McCord's snakeneck turtle, is a critically endangered turtle

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 ...

from

Rote Island Rote Island ( id, Pulau Rote, also spelled ''Roti'') is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese sailor arrive ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Taxonomy

''Chelodina mccordi'' belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Chelodina ''Chelodina'', collectively known as snake-necked turtles, is a large and diverse genus of long-necked chelid turtles with a complicated nomenclatural history. Although in the past, ''Macrochelodina'' and ''Macrodiremys'' have been considered s ...

'' (Australian snake-necked turtles) within the

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

Chelidae (Austro-South American side-necked turtles). ''Chelodina mccordi'' was originally described from Rote Island but was later split into three subspecies. ''Chelodina mccordi rotensis'' from eastern Rote and ''Chelodina mccordi timorensis'' from Timor. In a recent paper the eastern Rote form was found to be identical to the western form and they were synonymised. This leaves the species with two subspecies one on Rote Island and one on Timor.

History

The Roti Island snake-necked turtle was split from the New Guinea snake-necked turtle and regarded as distinct species in 1994 after Dr. Anders Rhodin, director of th
Chelonian Research Foundation
in Lunenburg (Massachusetts), found differences between the two species. The first snake-necked turtles on Rote Island had been discovered in 1891 by George Albert Boulenger.

Etymology

Both the specific name, ''mccordi'', and one of the common names, McCord's snakeneck turtle, are in honor of Dr. William Patrick McCord (born 1950), a veterinarian and turtle expertBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). "''Chelodina mccordi''", p. 172 in ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. . from Hopewell Junction, New York.

Description

The carapace of ''C. mccordi'' can reach a straight length of . The color of the carapace is a pale grey brown. Occasionally there are also specimens which have a chestnut-coloured hue. The plastron is a pale buff white. The neck, which is nearly as long as the carapace, is dark brown on the upperparts with round tubercles. The underparts are light beige. The iris is black surrounded by a white ring.

Habitat

The natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''Chelodina mccordi'' includes swamps, rice terraces, and small lakes.

Reproduction

Adults of ''C. mccordi'' may have up to three breeding periods in a year. A typical clutch consists of eight to fourteen eggs. The size of an egg is and may weigh . The first hatchlings emerge after incubating for three months, and the last hatchlings leave after four months. Upon emerging, a hatchling's shell is about and has yellow spots on the plastron, which become darker in a few weeks until the entire plastron becomes almost black. As the juveniles grow, their coloration progressively becomes paler until they finally achieve the color of the adults.

Threats

The Roti Island snake-necked turtle is one of the most desired turtles in the international pet trade. Even before it was scientifically described it was so over-collected that the legal trade was prohibited in 2001 due to its rarity. The two or three remaining populations live in an area of only 70 km² (27 square miles) in the central highlands of Rote Island. It is still illegally captured and it is often offered on markets under the label of the New Guinea snake-necked turtle which is also legally protected. In 2004 it was listed in Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

. Outside of capture by humans there are few natural threats to this species. There are some reports of predation by feral pigs ('' Sus scrofa'') and loss of habitat, but illegal capture and trade remain the primary threat.

References

External links

*Asian Turtle Trade Working Group (2000)
''Chelodina mccordi''
In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. . Downloaded on 27 July 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered * *

{{Taxonbar, from=Q304547 Chelodina Reptiles of Indonesia Reptiles described in 1994