CreatureData

Sawshelled turtle

Myuchelys latisternum (Gray, 1867)

Status not recordedturtles and tortoises

The sawshelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum) is a species in the family Chelidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh about 1.38 kg and live up to 16.2 years.

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Quick facts about the sawshelled turtle

Weight
1.38 kgsrc for Weight
Length
up to 28 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
16.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
26.6 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Egg incubation
69 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
9 – 20src for Young per litter or clutch
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the sawshelled turtle live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sawshelled turtle as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Australia

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the sawshelled turtle endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the sawshelled turtle classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderTestudines
  5. familyChelidae
  6. genusMyuchelys
  7. SpeciesMyuchelys latisternum (Gray, 1867)

Synonyms Elseya latisternum, Emydura latisternum, Emydura signata, Euchelymys spinosa, Wollumbinia dorsii, Wollumbinia latisternum

Other names and names in other languages (9)
  • Common Sawshell turtleEnglish
  • Common Sawshelled turtleEnglish
  • Eastern saw-shelled turtleEnglish
  • Northern Australian snapping turtleEnglish
  • Saw-shelled turtleEnglish
  • krátkokrčka východoaustralskáCzech
  • Breitbrust-ElseyaschildkröteGerman
  • Северовосточная элсеяRussian
  • 寬胸癩頸龜Chinese

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISWikidataWoRMS

Relatives of the sawshelled turtle

Other species in the same genus Myuchelys.

CompareSawshelled turtle vs Georges’ turtleSawshelled turtle vs Bell's turtleSawshelled turtle vs Purvis’ turtle

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the sawshelled turtle?

An adult sawshelled turtle weighs 1.38 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

How long does the sawshelled turtle live?

The sawshelled turtle has a recorded lifespan of 16.2 years.

Is the sawshelled turtle an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the sawshelled turtle as introduced in 1 country: Australia, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the sawshelled turtle?

The sawshelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum) belongs to the family Chelidae in the order Testudines.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Sawshelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sawshelled-turtle

MLA

“Sawshelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sawshelled-turtle.

BibTeX
@misc{sawshelled_turtle_2026,
  title = {Sawshelled turtle (Myuchelys latisternum)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sawshelled-turtle},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}