Two native turtles are vying to survive in a coastal Australian river. One doesn’t belong there

Alex Pike The Manning River Helmeted turtle ( Myuchelys purvisi ) might just be Australia’s most beautiful freshwater turtle.

With a bright yellow stripe stretching from their nose to the tip of their tail, these striking turtles are hard to miss.

The Manning River turtle is found nowhere else on earth except for the few coastal rivers in New South Wales’ Manning River region.

Known as Guraa in the Gathang language of the Traditional Custodians of Birpai-Barray, this ancient turtle has a lineage dating back 55 million years .

However, this ancient species faces a very modern crisis.

The Manning River turtle is listed as endangered and is being pushed towards extinction by the pressures of habitat clearing , the illegal pet trade and invasive predators that prey on adult female turtles and their eggs.

But as our new study reveals, this species faces an even more urgent, and perhaps unexpected, threat: another native but locally-introduced turtle.

Read more: We identified the 63 animals most likely to go extinct by 2041.

We can’t give up on them yet An unexpected threat The Macquarie River turtle ( Emydura macquarii ), also known as the Murray River turtle, is native to several river systems snaking across Australia.

It is also listed as critically endangered in Victoria and vulnerable in South Australia .

However, this species is spreading beyond its natural range .

Macquarie River turtles were first found in NSW’s Manning River catchment in 2007, and were possibly introduced by people releasing their pet turtles into the river.

These turtles have now been detected across nine different tributaries in the Manning River and are continuing to spread.

Macquarie River turtles are a threat to populations of the critically endangered Bellinger River turtle ( Myuchelys georgesi ) and the endangered Manning River turtle .