New Guinea giant softshell turtle
| New Guinea giant softshell turtle | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Family: | Trionychidae |
| Genus: | Pelochelys |
| Species: | P. bibroni |
| Binomial name | |
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Pelochelys bibroni (Owen, 1853) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The New Guinea giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys bibroni) is a species of softshell turtle in the Trionychidae family. It is referred to by the Suki people as kiya eise, a reference to its flexible shell. In the Arammba language, it is called sokrere, meaning "earthquake". It is sometimes hunted by local villages for its meat and/or eggs, leading to some cases of chelonitoxism.
P. bibroni prefers lowland rivers and estuaries, but adjusts well to the saline environments of deltas and large estuaries. Its diet is primarily carnivorous, consuming mostly fish, crabs, mollusks, and occasionally some vegetation. Its hunting strategy is not overly aggressive, but primarily being an ambush predator, it spends most of its time at the bottom of its chosen river bed, waiting for prey to wander by.
Nesting usually occurs in September, often on the same beaches as the pig-nosed turtle. The 22-45 eggs in a clutch are often found in the nests of crocodiles. This is possibly a strategy to avoid nest predation.
The specific name, bibroni, is in honor of French herpetologist Gabriel Bibron.
P. bibroni ranges from southern China to West Papua (Indonesia) and Papua New Guinea, but may also be found in Australia and the Philippines. It has recently gone extinct in the Mekong and Chao Phraya River basins.
P. bibroni is the second-largest species of freshwater turtle, surpassed in size only by Pelochelys cantorii. Members of the species can reach up to a meter in length, and 120 kg in weight.
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