Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle
Chelodina mccordi
Summary 5
The Roti Island snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi) is an extremely threatened turtle species from Rote Island. Chelodina mccordi timorensis, a subspecies of it, living on eastern Timor, is sometimes considered as its own species, called Timor turtle (Chelodina timorensis). It belongs to the genus Chelodina (Australian snake-necked turtles) within the family of Side-necked turtles (Chelidae)
Description 6
The carapace can reach a length of 18–24 centimetres (7.1–9.4 in). 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.
Conservation 7
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.
Outside of capture by humans there are few natural threats to this species. There are some reports of predation by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)[1] and loss of habitat, but illegal capture and trade remain the primary threat.
Sources and Credits 7
- Chris R. Shepherd; Bonggi Ibarrobdo (2005). The Trade of the Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle Chelodina mccordi (PDF) (Report). TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Valter Jacinto, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5461/9582397584_995d878741_o.jpg
- (c) Josh More, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/guppiecat/22599489619/
- (c) Vallee, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Schlangenhalsschildkroete.jpg
- (c) Postdlf, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Chelodina_mccordi_at_the_Columbus_Zoo-2011_07_11_IMG_0642.JPG
- Adapted by calebcam from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelodina_mccordi
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti_Island_snake-necked_turtle
- (c) calebcam, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
