Elseya branderhorsti ( Ouwens 1914: 31 )

Thomson, Scott, Amepou, Yolarnie, Anamiato, Jim & Georges, Arthur, 2015, A new species and subgenus of Elseya (Testudines: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from New Guinea, Zootaxa 4006 (1), pp. 59-82 : 63-65

Elseya branderhorsti ( Ouwens 1914: 31) ( Figure 4)

Branderhorst´s Snapping Turtle

1914 Emydura branderhorsti —( Ouwens 1914: 31) 1994 Elseya branderhorsti —(Bour, in David 1994: 81)

Type data —Holotype—lost. Original specimen from southeastern Papua, Indonesia, between the Lorentz River and Merauke, restricted this study. To avoid confusion, we hereby set PNGM R25201 ( Figure 5 ), an adult female Elseya branderhorsti , as neotype for this species under article 75.3 of the ICZN Code. This specimen is lodged in the Papua New Guinea Museum in Port Moresby. The specimen is 424.7 mm in carapace length, collected from the Bensbach River of the Trans-Fly region of Papua New Guinea (8° 50' 58.6896" S., 141° 14' 52.944" E.) close to the locality of the original type that has been lost (explained below). The designated neotype is of the same species as that from the original description of Ouwens (1914). The species occurs in sympatry with the new species of Elseya described in this paper and it is therefore important to establish representative material for both species. We also refer a male specimen ( PNGM R25202) as a second specimen collected at the same time and place as the neotype.

Diagnosis —Diagnosed by the following characters: prominent head shield, cervical scute absent, prominent alveolar ridge on the triturating surfaces, carapace usually uniformly dark, lacking any regular spots; plastron uniformly cream or yellow (white in hatchlings and small juveniles); iris typically indistinct, dark, similar in color to the surrounding sclera (liquid eyes); large adult size. Affinities lie with Elseya dentata in Australia.

Distribution —Lowland reaches of rivers in southern New Guinea, from the Lorenz River in the west to the Fly River in the east.

Collection History —This taxon was described as Emydura branderhorsti by Ouwens (1914) based on a single live adult specimen collected in "Southern New Guinea " by Dr. Branderhorst. The only comparative material was a single juvenile specimen of El. novaeguineae (Bogor Zoological Museum BZM 18) collected in "Northern New Guinea " by Dr. Gjellerup (who worked in the Tami River area of Papua, Indonesia). The holotype was still alive in the Bogor Museum when described, but has since been lost (Leo Brongersma pers. comm. to John Goode 1967, 28 June 1963). The type locality of El. branderhorsti cannot be stated with accuracy, but it can be restricted through an examination of the travel history of Dr. Branderhorst, kindly brought to our attention by Anders Rhodin (unpubl. data).

Dr. Bastiaan Branderhorst's identity initially posed a mystery. There is no record of him at the Bogor Zoological Museum, nor could his name be found in any zoological literature referable to New Guinea. Through a painstaking search of early 20th century travel and botanical works on Dutch New Guinea, it was possible to establish his identity and reconstruct his New Guinea travels with some accuracy. Later, through the courtesy of Dr. S. Adisoemarto of the Bogor Museum, a reference was obtained which briefly summarizes some of this information (van Steenis-Kruseman 1950).

Bastiaan Branderhorst was born in Holland in 1880, received an M.D. degree in Utrecht in 1906 and spent 3 years from 1907 to 1910 as a military medical officer with the Dutch Army in Dutch New Guinea, serving under A.J. Gooszen and R.L.A. Hellwig, well-known explorers ( Gooszen & Hellwig 1908; Hellwig 1908;1909; Anonymous 1910; Hellwig 1910b; a; Anonymous 1911; Heldring 1911). In addition to his medical duties his main pursuit was the collection of botanical and ethnographic specimens for the Buitenzorg (= Bogor) Museum ( Heldring 1911; Valeton 1913). He collected several hundred plants and has at least 9 species of orchids and other exotic plants named after him ( Smith 1910; Burck 1911; Harms 1911; Lauterbach 1911a; b; Pulle 1911; Smith 1911; Valeton 1911; 1913; Smith 1914). Nowhere in the literature can any reference be found as to where he collected his turtle, but his plant localities are well documented, as are his travels. Specifically, he traveled extensively in southeastern Dutch New Guinea from the Lorentz River to the coast east of Merauke. Long excursions were made up the Lorentz, Eilanden, and Digoel rivers, where many plants were collected. Branderhorst left New Guinea in 1910, eventually settling into medical practice in Pengalengan, Java, where he apparently retired in approximately 1940.

From this information it is clear that the lost holotype of Emydura branderhorsti was collected somewhere in southeastern Dutch New Guinea, probably in either the Lorentz, Eilanden, or Digoel Rivers. The type locality is hereby restricted to "southeastern Papua, Indonesia, between the Lorentz River and Merauke".

Figures

FIGURE 5. PNGM R 25201 adult female Elseya (Elseya) branderhorsti photographed in life now at the Museum of Papua New Guinea, from the Bensbach River of Papua New Guinea (8 ° 50 ' 58.6896 " S., 141 ° 14 ' 52.944 " E.). Scale: 20 mm.