Macrochelys


Macrochelys is a genus of very large freshwater turtles in the family Chelydridae from Southeastern United States. Only a single extant species was recognized until a 2014 study divided it into several species.

Extant species

Traditionally, only a single extant species was recognized, but following reviews, two species are now recognized:
A third species has been proposed, but its validity is disputed. Neither the Reptile Database nor IUCN's Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group recognize it as separate from M. temminckii.
Unlike the family Chelydridae as a whole, the genus Macrochelys is exclusively North American. Hutchison considered the genus Chelydrops to be a junior synonym of Macrochelys, and recombined its type species, Chelydrops stricta from the Miocene of Nebraska, as the fourth species of Macrochelys.
There are two other species known only from fossil remains: