New Guinea Giant Softshell Turtle
Pelochelys bibroni
- Vulnerable
- Card rarity: Rare
- Reptiles
The southern New Guinea giant softshell turtle is a species of softshell turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is endemic to the lowlands of southern New Guinea with occasional vagrant individuals sighted off the coast of northern Australia. There is no confirmed Australian record. P. bibroni 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.
Classification
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- Family
- Trionychidae
- Genus
- Pelochelys