Western Swamp Tortoise

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Western Swamp Tortoise

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Chelidae
Subfamily:	Pseudemydurinae (Gaffney and Meylan, 1988)
Genus:	Pseudemydura
Species:	P. umbrina

Binomial name

Pseudemydura umbrina
(Seibenrock, 1901)

Synonyms

Emydura inspectata (Glauert, 1954)

The Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina), also known as the Western Swamp Turtle, is a freshwater tortoise in Western Australia, and the only member of the subfamily Pseudemydurinae. It is the smallest chelid found in Australia. The first specimen of the Western Swamp Tortoise was collected by Ludwig Preiss in 1839 and sent to Vienna Museum. There it was labeled New Holland and was named Pseudemydura umbrina 1901 by Seibenrock. No further collection of specimens were recorded until 1953. Glauert in 1954 named these specimens Emydura inspectata but in 1958 Ernest Williams of Harvard University showed them to be synonyms of P.umbrina, collected by Preiss.^[1]

[edit] Description

The adult males are larger than the females, the males have a carapace of less than 155 mm and weigh less than 550 g. Females are 135 mm and 410 g or less, with the hatchlings being 24-29 mm and weighing 3-6 g. The only other species of freshwater tortoise occurring in the southwest of Western Australia is the Oblong Tortoise (Chelodina oblonga). It has a neck equal to or longer than its shell, making the two species easily identifiable.

The colour of the tortoise varies dependent on age and the environment where it is found. Typical colouration for hatchlings is grey above with bright cream and black below. Adults vary with differing swamp conditions, from yellow-brown in clay based swamps to black with a maroon tinge in sandy swamps.