NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Pig-nosed Turtle

Carettochelys insculpta Ramsay, 1886

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Carettochelys insculpta in Siam centre, Bangkok
Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image source
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Open encyclopedia reference

The pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta), also known as the Fly River turtle, pitted-shelled turtle, and the Warrajan, is a species of turtle which is native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the only living member of the genus Carettochelys and family Carettochelyidae, a family which also contains many fossil species with their closest relatives being the softshell turtles (family Trionychidae).

Wikipedia contributors, Pig-nosed turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:57:43.048233+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Carettochelys insculpta Ramsay, 1886
Name authority: Ramsay, 1886
Common name: Pig-nosed Turtle
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Carettochelyidae
Genus: Carettochelys
Extinction status: Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
subphylumVertebrata
infraphylumGnathostomata
parvphylumOsteichthyes
megaclassTetrapoda
classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
suborderCryptodira
superfamilyTrionychoidea
familyCarettochelyidae
genusCarettochelys
speciesCarettochelys insculpta Ramsay, 1886

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 1 records assigned to Carettochelyidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Carettochelys insculpta canni Wells, 2002 Wells, 2002	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Papua New Guinea (Fly, Strickland, Morehead, Lorentz, Stekwa rivers, Lake Jamur),

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Carettochelys&species=insculpta Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:R7VH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.