A turtle commonly found in northern Australia has been given a new name because it turns out it was not actually the turtle everyone thought it was.
The commonly known Gulf snapping turtle was classified as Elseya lavarackorum in 1997 after being compared to a fossil on Riversleigh Station in north-west Queensland.
Twenty-three years on, American turtle researcher Mehdi Joseph-Ouni and Queensland Museum herpetologist Patrick Couper have concluded that the animal alive today is a completely different species.
"It has seven distinctive differences in its skeleton," Mr Couper said.
"It was actually an error."
Researchers have now invented a new species name of Elseya oneiros, keeping its common genus name.
The freshwater turtle can be found in north-west Queensland, in the Nicholson and Gregory Rivers and has some distinctive features.
"It has a horny sheath on top of its head, females get very pale in the face, and you can normally find it in Lawn Hill Gorge," Mr Couper said.
Out with the old
The new discovery has also shed new light on the previous species.
"The fossil that carries the name Elseya lavarackorum, we believe that that species is probably extinct," Mr Couper said.
"The information that we have on the modern species [oneiros] is new, and people are still studying it today so our knowledge of this turtle still remains the same."
Mr Couper said incorrect names were often given to animals that were located in several areas.
"Prior, people would just go on if the animal looked the same they would assume they were a widespread species," he said.
