Dragons Rule!

This is a fully revised version of a blog I posted years ago,
with lots of new photos and updated information and taxonomy.

Well, in Australia dragons rule anyway. Of perhaps 350 species of dragon lizard (ie the Family Agamidae) in the world, around 110 are native to Australia, which is a very high level of diversity by world standards. Their origins go back at least 90-100 million years, as evidenced by fossils from across the globe, from south-east Asia to North Africa to South America. Despite this, dragons are no longer found in the Americas, but occur across Africa (and slightly into Europe), Asia and Australia. Agamidae is a 'sister' family to the iguana family (Iguanidae) of the Neotropics and some of the Pacific and, strangely, Madagascar. It's a funny thing, but this rather odd distribution of the iguanas neatly fits into the gaps left by the dragons; where dragons are, iguanas aren't, and vice versa. We can't explain it, but the situation is mirrored almost exactly by the two families of large constricting snakes, boas and pythons - presumably coincidentally, but it's quite a coincidence!

It is suggested that dragons (along with most other now-dominant groups of lizards and snakes) arrived in Australia about 30 million years ago as Australia drifted close enough to Asia for ocean rafting and island hopping to permit sea crossings. This is quite plausible of course, but it's not clear from the paper if DNA work exists to support the suggestion.

Gippsland (Eastern) Water Dragon Intellagama (formerly Physignathus) lesueurii, National Botanic Gardens, Canberra. This handsome male in his confident prime is showing most of the characters
which immediately distinguish the family. These include strong clawed legs on which
 he stands clear of the ground, and rough, even spiny, scales which don't overlap each other.
The tail is long and whiplike, and doesn't regrow if severed (unlike a skink's for instance).

For a really whippy tail please meet the Northern Two-lined Dragon Diporiphora bilineata,
here at Litchfield NP, south-west of Darwin. (This is a tricky genus, with ever-increasing numbers
of species recognised, but thanks to Steve Holliday I think I've got this right. However it could
also be Yellow-sided Two-lined Dragon D. magna. Any comments welcomed!)

This Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps, Windorah, South-west Queensland,
was too cold to run away - the usual defence of dragons - allowing a good view of its spiky scales.

For comparison, here's a large skink of similar size demonstrating the basic differences; people are often uncertain as to which is which, but you can pick them with a bit of practice. However there are certainly some fairly smooth dragons (like the Northern Two-lined Dragon above) and some skinks with prickly tails. The postures though are pretty definitive.

Blotched Bue-tongued Lizard Tiliqua nigrolutea, Namadgi National Park,
in the ranges above Canberra. Like other skinks this is lying on the gound, with small,
fairly weak, legs and small claws. The smooth scales overlap at the edges, which
is better seen on the photo below of the same cooperative model.

Their family is so old  that, while we regard them as lizards, they (and the iguanas) are less closely related to other lizards than snakes are. One character not visible in the pictures above is the teeth; dragons have acrodont teeth, which means they don't have sockets, but are fused at the base to the surface of the jawbone. It's a common feature in fish and frogs, and isn't a very secure system, as teeth break easily. This doesn't mean they don't work perfectly well, and incautious handling of a wild Beardie left me quite efficiently lacerated on more than one occasion in my rash youth.

Nearly all dragons (and all Australian ones) lay soft-shelled eggs. She buries them - there may be as many as 30 - and leaves the young to burrow out again.

Southern Angle-headed Dragon Lophosaurus (was Hypsilurus) spinipes laying eggs in a
rainforest track, Lamington NP, Queensland. I've only been lucky enough to see this event
just this once, and a long time ago, hence the indifferent picture which is a scan of a
faded old slide.

And in a sort of segue, here's its close relation from rainforests much further north. 

 

Boyd's Forest Dragon Lophosaurus boydii, clinging to a tree trunk by Lake Barrine,
Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. We'd walked here before without seeing one,
but this time we went in January, the rainy season which most visitors avoid, and
we had the best wildlife experiences we'd ever had there. Loved this one!

On those long legs, most dragons can run at astonishing speeds, even rising onto their hind legs to do so. One group of Australian dragons is known as 'bicycle lizards' for this behaviour!

Crested Dragon or Bicycle Lizard Ctenophorus cristatus, west of Norseman, Western Australia.
Note the very long powerful hindlegs for running upright.

There is also the hint of the bright brick red on this dragon which will characterise him as breeding begins. This too is typical of many dragons. 

Painted Dragon Ctenophorus pictus, Cape Bauer, South Australia.
The handsome blue flush will spread to his face when breeding starts.

Gippsland (Eastern) Water Dragon Intellagama (formerly Physignathus) lesueurii,
National Botanic Gardens, Canberra; only old males attain these striking colours.
There is a healthy population of these beauties adorning the gardens.
Like many dragons these lizards climb well, but they also swim powerfully,
dropping from a branch into the water if disturbed. (Mind you, this particular population
doesn't get disturbed easily - they will come to outside tables at the
restaurant hoping for dropped scraps!)

 

Rainbow Agama Agama agama, Douala, Cameroon. Only the males attain these superb colours,
and only when breeding. At other times they are dull brown, as are females all year round.
There is an apparently healthy population of them on the footpaths and open spaces,
including petrol stations, in this huge crowded and polluted city.

This is the genus (Agama) on which the Family name Agamidae is based. Curiously it comes from a Creole word in a Suriname patois, meaning simply 'lizard'. It's curious because this is an African group, not represented in South America. Ironically the word itself appears to have been brought from West Africa by slaves who ended up in Suriname and used the word for local lizards, but the name was then incorrectly applied by European taxonomists to a mishmash of American and African lizards! In the end it seems that an African one was the first one named, so they remained as Agama while the American ones got different names. (Actually the story is even more murky than that, but that's enough of it as the lizards are more interesting!)

Male agamas are famously colourful.

Blue-headed Tree Agama Acanthocerus atricollis, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
Breeding male above, and female (or possibly non-breeding male) below.

And yet another superbly colourful African agama, this one from Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

Kenyan Rock Agama Agama lionotus making himself at home on the paths and steps of
our  lodge. He's lost the tip of his tail (and as noted earlier, it won't regrow); there are
several potential culprits, including a bigger male agama and the local mongoose gangs.

Augrabies Flat Lizard Platysaurus broadleyi, Augrabies Falls NP, northern
South Africa. This dragon lizard is very localised but abundant on the walls
of the gorges and around the waterfalls of the Orange River as it flows
through the dramatic stony landscape. The males are very colourful and
huge numbers of them can be present almost underfoot, but when we were
last there in 2019 drought was strong and numbers were low.

As just suggested, dragons can be very sociable, and interactions are common.

Agamas in open-air restaurant, Waza NP, northern Cameroon.

Gilbert's Dragon or Ta Ta Lizard Lophognathus (formerly Amphibolurus) gilberti,
Bladensburg NP, Queensland. The curious alternative common name comes from its habit of
'waving' to rivals, as this one is doing, to indicate that it is in its territory and aware of neighbours.

This Gilbert's Dragon is a young one and wouldn't dare to actually challenge an adult male, which are very handsome and imposing lizards, like the one below. 

Gilbert's Dragon, Fogg Dam, Northern Territory.

Like the little Ta Ta Lizard above, many dragons perch high to watch for both danger and prey - all are carnivores.

Bearded Dragon Pogona barbata, Temora, New South Wales. The name often starts with
Eastern to distinguish it from the five other Pogona species found throughout Australia.
They can adjust the melanin-bearing cells in the skin to turn almost black to absorb extra sunshine.

This Bearded Dragon in the National Botanic Gardens, Canberra,
has not only brought the melanin to the surface, but flattened itself and
turned side-on to the sun to maximise energy absorption.

These Bearded Dragons are common throughout eastern and south-eastern Australia, from Eyre Peninsula to Cairns, and are almost certainly the most familiar dragon to most Australians. Another common one is smaller and probably less obvious, but will certainly be known to many people around the south-east coast and fairly well inland.

 

Jacky Lizard Amphibolurus muricatus, Currarong, south coast New South Wales.
Like the Bearded Dragon it is often seen perched up off the ground on stumps or logs.
It is distinctively patterned and very fast.

Jacky Lizards are very common in coastal heaths, which are generally good lizard habitats. Here's another heathland dweller, from higher in the ranges than the Jacky Lizards go.

 

Mountain Dragon Rankinia diemensis, Blackheath, Blue Mountains, NSW.

Our understanding of dragon relationships (as with most other animal groups) has improved rapidly and dramatically in recent times with extraordinary new tools for looking right into their DNA, and the name changes are ongoing, including recognition of new species. The Mountain Dragon for instance was until recently included in the genus Amphibolurus with the Jacky Lizard but is now known to be quite distinct, with no other members of Rankinia.

I'm not sure when the name 'dragon' was applied to them, but it may well have been following Linnaeus' application of Draco (ie 'dragon') to the wonderful genus of 40 species of gliding lizards in south-east Asia. They glide long distances on membranes supported by extended ribs - I don't have a photo of them in action, but it's worth doing a quick search online, as they really are pretty wonderful. Here's a couple of species from Malaysian Borneo; sadly they weren't interested in showing off their skills while we were watching.

Horned Flying Dragon Draco cornutus, Batang Ai, Sarawak. If you enlarge the photo,
you can see on its side the pleats of the folded gliding membrane. The throat pouch,
or dewlap, is a transparent membrane used by displaying males.

Sumatran Flying Dragon D. sumatrana, Gomantong, Sabah.
Again you can see the folds of the gliding membrane if you enlarge the photo;
note the beautiful camouflage too!

While in Borneo we might as well meet another local dragon, a truly beautiful tree-dwelling lizard.

Green Crested Lizard Bronchocela cristatella, Gomantong.
This is a common and widespread lizard in south and south-east Asia.
The one below is from Sepilok, also in Sabah.

Here's another African agamid, from Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania (often incorrectly rendered as Olduvai), the famous archaeological site associated with very early humankind.

 I think it's a female Mwanza Flat-headed Rock Agama Agama mwanza, the adult males
of which are brilliantly blue and pink-red, but I'd be glad of any assistance. They were
common around the excellent interpretive centre, on and by the paths.

And another African arid land agamid, this one from north of Maroua in northern Cameroon.

I confess to an ulterior motive in including it here, in that I'm hoping someone
might be able to help me identify it!

Back in Australia, one of the most famous dragon lizards is the Frill-necked Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii of tropical Australia, not to be confused with the Bearded Dragon, though the names are often interchanged.

Frill-necked Lizard, Mareeba Wetlands, northern Queensland.
Spectacular, but not very often seen by visitors as they tend to be only active in the wet season,
when fewer people visit. In the dry winter they spend time in semi-torpor in trees. A Frill-necked
Lizard used to adorn the Australian two cent piece back when they existed.

Also from the Top End, another tree-climbing dragon, though one without the cachet of the famous Frill-necked. The wonderfully monikered Swamplands Lashtail Tropicagama temporalis is found across the tropical north from the east Kimberley to Cape York. This one was in a bush alongside the bird hide at Mamukala Swamp, Kakadu NP.

Swamplands Lashtail, seemingly flaunting the magnificent tail.
(Again my thanks to Steve for assisting with this one.)

It is often said that Australia's great lizard diversity is founded on the abundance of termites in arid lands and termite mounds are key dragon habitat.

Tommy Roundhead Diporiphora australis, Mareeba, Queenland, on termite mound.

But it's in the vast arid sweeps of the inland, on the plains and in the ranges, in woodlands and on dunes, that the dragons really come into their own. They are one of the numerous attractions of the 'outback' for me, and I'd like to end this little Dragons 101 offering by introducing a small selection of these tough, charismatic little desert characters.

Slater's Ring-tailed Dragon Ctenophorus slateri, East MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory.
This is a good example of the way new genetic tools are revealing previously unconfirmed
species diversity. Where there used to be only one Ring-tailed Dragon recognised across
much of the desert country, now there are four.

Ctenophorus is the biggest Australian dragon genus, with some 34 species; we've already met three of them here, and here are three more, all at home in arid situations. 

Spotted Military Dragon Ctenophorus maculatus, Lake Logue NR, Western Australia.

Central Military Dragon Ctenophorus isolepis, Great Sandy Desert, WA.
These little dragons were common in the dunes of this great desert, darting between spiny
spinifex clumps. Feral cat tracks were widespread but these speedsters could
apparently mostly evade them. They are found in most of Australia's deserts.

 Eastern Mallee Dragon Ctenophorus spinodomus, Gluepot Reserve, South Australia.
This one was only named in 2019, and is a specialist in mallee scrubland with spinifex.
(And it would not move from the annoying grass blades in front of it!)

A couple more bearded dragons, before the familiar Eastern Beardie hogs all their limelight.

Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps, near Coober Pedy, northern South Australia.
It was a cold windy day and this character really didn't have the energy to run away.
It is found in a vast range across inland eastern Australia from north-western Victoria
to the Northern Territory central deserts.

Western or Dwarf Bearded Dragon Pogona minor, Lesueur NP, Western Australia.
Despite the minor and Dwarf names, at up to 40cm long it's not that small,
though smaller than the Eastern Bearded Dragon. Its inland western distribution
almost exactly complements that of the Central Beardie.

Gibber Earless Dragon Tympanocryptis intima, Bladensburg NP, Queensland.
These heat-lovers can be remarkably well-camouflaged against coloured desert stones.
These wind-smoothed stones, known as gibbers, washed from eroding hard caps of surrounding
hills, and cover vast plains in parts of the inland.

Finally, one of the most extraordinary dragons of all, which I first encountered decades ago crossing a busy highway on the Nullarbor Plain - I moved it far from danger but that was long before digital cameras. I've not seen a wild one since!

Thorny Devil Moloch horridus, Desert Park, Alice Springs.
Surely one of the most extraordinary of all dragons; despite appearances, a slow,
harmless ant specialist. A little more information about this fascinating animal here.

I hope you can love our dragons as much as I do - they're much more interesting and appealing than Smaug or the Games of Thrones crew!

I love to receive your comments and in future will be notifying you personally by email when a new posting appears, if you'd like me to. All current subscribers have been added to this mailing list and have already been contacted. This will mean one email every three weeks at the current rate of posting. I promise never to use the list for any other purpose and will never share it.

Should you wish to be added to it, just send me an email at calochilus51@internode.on.net. You can ask to be removed from the list at any time,or could simply mark an email as Spam, so you won't see future ones.

Thank you!

Turtles and Tortoises; the real old-timers

These wonderful animals have been around in pretty much their current form for at least 200 million years. Two hundred and twenty million years ago the first turtles separated off from the other reptiles and have been doing their own thing ever since. It was another hundred million years (would you like a moment to think about that?) before a recognisable crocodile, the other notable vertebrate group which has been around for a very long time in its modern form, made an appearance and doubtless began preying on turtles.

Yellow-spotted River Turtle Podocnemis unifilis, Manu River, Peruvian Amazonia.

For a turtle, the shell's the thing. It comprises a plastron below and a carapace protecting the back. It took them the first twenty million years to get it right, but they had plenty of time and got there in the end. The plastron developed first, to protect swimming proto-turtles from attacks from below. The carapace evolved after turtles came ashore. Segments of ribs and spine were 'borrowed' to form the bony carapace - which is still fused to the ribs and spine - while the plastron developed from the shoulder girdle and breast bones, plus special floating 'dermal bones' found in the belly skin of ancient reptiles including crocodiles. Extensions from the plastron connect the plates at the sides. The bony shield was then eventually covered with tough keratin scales called scutes, based on reptile skin. Modern freshwater and marine turtles have land-dwelling ancestors.

Yellow-spotted River Turtle again - they are seemingly everywhere in the Amazon.
Carapace, plastron plus side extensions, and scutes are all obvious here.
Note too the broadly webbed and strongly clawed feet, plus the nostrils on the very
tip of the nose, for breathing while staying otherwise submerged.

Let's get the 'tortoise or turtle' thing out of the way now, before we get in deeper. It's pretty much a furphy really but there's confusion in Australia in particular because we use the terms differently from elsewhere. Traditionally we've pretty much reserved 'turtle' for the big ocean-going turtles, and 'tortoise' for everything else including the numerous freshwater species. I'm guessing that usage derived in the 19th century from English ancestors, but it may have been home-grown. It is likely that the absence of land-dwelling tortoises here influenced this too. In either case in modern-day Britain as well as elsewhere in the English-speaking world 'tortoise' is reserved for club-footed purely land-dwelling animals and everything else is a 'turtle'. That preference is starting to gain traction here too and it's how I'll be using it today.

 

The turtle world, comprising the Order Testudines for the record, is indeed divided into two, but not like that. As in many other groups of animals and plants, it looks as though this dichotomy had its origins in the times when the world was divided north and south, though it is probably not that simple. For our purposes it is only significant that one Suborder (the Pleuridines, or side-necked turtles) is solely southern today, in Australia, South America and Africa. As the name suggests, they tuck their neck away sideways into the shell where it fits neatly in front of one front leg.

Eastern Long-necked Turtle Chelodina longicollis. Its front is to the left,
and the folded back neck can be seen above my thumb. I've moved very many
turtles (mostly this species) off roads out of harm's way but be wary - they ungratefully
defend themselves with a foul-smelling secretion which you do not want on you or
your clothes!

The other Suborder (the Cryptodines, or hidden-necked turtles) pull their heads straight back in, between their front legs, folding their neck neatly into an S-shape. This, as you may imagine, requires a very different skeletal and muscular design, and the separation between the groups seems to go back to the Jurassic, 150-200 millon years ago.

The Malay, or Southeast Asian, Box Turtle Cuora amboinensis, here at Sepilok,
Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, is an example of the hidden-neckeds. Its short neck
is pulled straight back into the shell when threatened. It is found throughout
southeast Asia. Many species of box turtles are threatened in the wild both
by the demand for wild food in China, and the depredations of the
US pet industry.

However this group also contains all the tortoises and sea turtles, and is found on every non-frozen continent (and ocean) except Australia. Well, not quite. There is one species in Australia, the ancient and unique Pig-nosed Turtle Carettochelys insculpta found in a few Top End rivers, and in New Guinea. It is the only surviving member of its entire family, though fossil relations are widely known. It closest relations seem to be the soft-shelled turtles of Africa, Asia and North America.

Pig-nosed Turtle, Melbourne Aquarium. Unlike any other fresh-water turtle it has
flippers like a sea turtle. Its nostrils are at the end of a long snout, hence the common name.

It is still not well known to science, though of course Indigenous Top Enders have long known it well.

The six species of great sea turtles also belong in this Suborder. They have lost the ability to retract their head, though other factors place them in the group of hidden-neckeds. Their plastron is smaller than that of other turtles, and joined to the carapace only by ligaments. Perhaps their substantial size - carapace length across the species ranges from 70cm to over two metres - enables them to dispense with some protection. And of course they have flippers to enable them to cross vast ocean distances.

Green Turtle Chelonia mydas basking ashore, Galápagos.

By 90 million years ago huge turtles seemingly related to modern leatherbacks were feeding on squid in northern seas. The ancestors of other modern sea turtles arose about ten million years later.

Green Turtle, Galápagos. Adults feed on sea grass beds in shallow water.
However Green Turtles cover huge distances - up to 2500km - to breed,
and can be found across huge areas of the world's oceans where
temperatures are above ten degrees centigrade.

Females determine mating, which takes place in the water.

Green Turtles mating, Galápagos.

After that she comes ashore to dig a hole in the sand and lay up to 300 round white leathery eggs, 40-50mm across, which she buries. The youngsters hatch at night after 8-10 weeks and all head for the water, though few successfully run the gauntlet of predatory birds and crabs. Perhaps only 1% of hatchlings survives to maturity, but if they do they may live for 80 years.

Green Turtle tracks, Lady Elliott Island, Great Barrier Reef.
Within their huge range, Green Turtles are at their most abundant in the
Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean.

Tortoises, totally land-dwelling animals without any foot adaptations to swimming, all belong to the Family Testudinidae, which is found everywhere except Australia (and of course Antarctica), especially in warmer drier environments.

Angulate Tortoise Chersina angulata, above (Bontebok NP, southwest South Africa)
and below (Augrabies Falls NP, northwest South Africa).
This very attractive tortoise is a South African endemic.

Angulate Tortoises from the drier inland, like this one, tend to be
darker and plainer, but I also wonder if age is a factor in this one.
This, being the only member of its genus, has no close relations.

The lovely Leopard Tortoise Stigmochelys pardalis, despite its apparent similarity
to the Angulate, is not closely related and is much more widely distributed, from
the Horn of Africa to eastern South Africa. Like all tortoises and turtles,
to my knowledge, it buries its eggs in soft soil.

Red-footed Tortoise Chelonoidis carbonarius, crossing the Transpantaneira Highway
in the Pantanal, south-western Brazil. Most tortoises are grazers but forest-dwelling
species like this one also eat fruit, invertebrates and carrion.

Interestingly, the famed Giant Tortoises of the Galápagos belong to the same genus as this, and their ancestors floated - either alone in the open ocean or on floating vegetation rafts - across the Pacific where they came ashore and their descendants gradually grew into giants. This is possible because tortoises can go months without eating or drinking. The same happened to produce the only other living giant tortoises, of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean (and formerly the Mascarenes), though their ancestors sailed from Madagascar. Indeed until recently there were many giant tortoise species on islands including Malta, Cuba, the Bahamas, the Canaries and Madagascar, but humans destroyed them all. 

Western Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise Chelonoidis porteri, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, munching on grass.
In (the few) moister parts of the archipelago they can rely on this luxury, but elsewhere cactus
flesh and fruit are important food sources.

Until recently it was assumed that there was just one Galápagos tortoise species, but 12 living ones are now recognised, with another two or three recently becoming extinct. The islands rose sequentially from the ocean as they passed over a volcanic 'hot spot'. The oldest islands were colonised first, and later provided new colonists to younger islands as they arose.

One interesting aspect of these giants is the consistent existence within species of 'saddlebacked' and 'dome-backed' shell forms.

Saddlebacked form, Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz.
At that time different species weren't recognised. The shell rises to the front,
allowing the head to be raised.

Dome-shaped shell on a Sierra Negra Giant Tortoise C. guentheri
crossing the road on Isabela Island.

Saddlebacks tend to be smaller and live on lower drier islands. The dome-backs inhabit higher wetter habitats. It is suggested that the saddlebacks, in a more demanding situation, can reach higher to access tall cactuses, while the dome-backs can easily get enough grass low down. It has also been proposed that the adaptation may allow competing males to stretch higher to intimidate rivals and attract females. In this case it would be an advantage for the smaller animals to be able to reach high. It seems to me that the two explanations are not mutually exclusive.

The tortoises and sea turtles tend to get star billing in this group, but in terms of numbers the more modest freshwater turtles are predominant. Family Geoemydidae, which includes the box turtles we met earlier, has some 70 species across Europe, Asia and North America, with a smaller and presumably relatively recent incursion into South America.

Black River Turtles Rhinoclemmys funerea, here below the bridge at
La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica, are restricted to central America.

Which brings us back to the side-necked turtles, which (apart from the Pig-nosed Turtle) are the only ones we have in Australia; here they all belong to the Family Chelidae. This is an ancient Gondwanan family which first appeared some 100 million years ago and is restricted to Australia, New Guinea and associated islands, and South America. They are carnivores, using long necks and fast reactions to catch fish and small crustaceans. For courtesy I'll start with a couple of South Americans; we've already met the Yellow-spotted River Turtle in the genus Podocnemis but we didn't see its spots before - here they are!

Yellow-spotted River Turtle, Yasuní NP, Ecuador.

South American Snake-necked Turtle Hydromedusa tectifera Iguazu Falls, Argentina.

Our common local turtle is the Eastern Long-necked Turtle Chelodina longicollis, abundant in local waterways and dams. It's often encountered crossing roads, especially on a sunny day after rain, looking for new territory or a somewhere to lay eggs.

Eastern Long-necked Turtle, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve near Canberra.
The long neck is evident here. They hunt by ambush, combined with a potent
'gape and suck' strategy. As the mouth gets close to the prey, it suddenly
and powerfully opens, creating a powerful suction action.

Elseya is a genus of six Australian species, plus three in New Guinea, known as the Australian snapping turtles (though they are mostly vegetarian, including floating fruits).

Northern Snapping Turtle Elseya dentata Howard Springs, south of Darwin.
It is found across northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Saw-shelled Turtle Elseya (now usually described as Myuchelys) latisternum
Cumberland Dam, inland North Queensland.

Finally, Emydura, the short-necked turtles, of which six are currently recognised in Australia.

Krefft's Turtle Emydura kreftii, Centenary Lakes, Cairns.
It lives in the waterways of east coastal Queensland. The short neck
which characterises the genus is evident in this photo and the next.

Murray River Turtle Emydura macquarii, Melbourne Aquarium.
This is a widespread species in the Murray River basin, including most of NSW,
where it extends to the north coast.

I hope you has as much affection and admiration for these most ancient of vertebrates; but if you don't you've probably not read this far anyway. I find them truly wonderful.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 26 AUGUST

I love to receive your comments and in future will be notifying you personally by email when a new posting appears, if you'd like me to. All current subscribers have been added to this mailing list and have already been contacted.
This will mean one email every three weeks at the current rate of posting. 

I promise never to use the list for any other purpose and will never share it.
Should you wish to be added to it, just send me an email at calochilus51@internode.on.net.
You can ask to be removed from the list at any time,
or could simply mark an email as Spam, so you won't see future ones.

Thank you!