Red-eared Sliders Trachemys scripta elegans in southern Sydney, including new incursions

Abstract

The invasive Red-eared Slider Trachemys scripta elegans has spread extensively, forming naturalised populations on all continents except Antarctica. Ranked among the 100 worst invasive species, there are biosecurity concerns that native turtles become outcompeted and displaced, as well as other speculative impacts. The actual ecological impacts in Australia have not been properly studied, however impacts shown in other countries are concerning. Incursions have presented in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. A number of sightings have been reported from southern Sydney, including six sites where more than one slider has persisted. The incursions at Yeramba Lagoon in the Georges River National Park and the Centennial Parklands have been the most documented, whereas incursions in the Lime Kiln Bay Wetland, Rockdale Wetlands Corridor and Audley in the Royal National Park appear to have occurred recently. To date, breeding in southern Sydney has only been confirmed at Yeramba Lagoon. A range of removal techniques have been successfully applied to eradicate isolated incursions in Brisbane and Melbourne. However, these options are difficult to implement in southern Sydney sites where incursions occur in high visitation public lands.

On a razor's edge: Status and prospects of the critically endangered Bellinger River snapping turtle, Myuchelys georgesi

“…To date, attention to introduced freshwater turtles in Australia has focused on the red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans (Burgin, 2007;Mo, 2019). This sub species is native to the south-eastern USA but is now widely distributed in North America beyond its natural range and throughout the world (Kikillus, Hare, & Hartley, 2010).…”

Pet or pest? Stable isotope methods for determining the provenance of an invasive alien species

“…As material of high biosecurity risk is inherently difficult to obtain, the availability of T. s. elegans and other reptile IAS is limited, while information surrounding an animal's history is not always accessible. Wild T. s. elegans specimens are rare in Australia, as at-large populations have only been confirmed in Sydney (Burgin 2006, Robey et al 2011Mo 2019) and Queensland (O'Keeffe 2005). Furthermore, T. s. elegans are illegal to import or keep in Australia without a licence, limiting available samples to those confiscated from illegal keeping (Department of Agriculture and Water Resources 2017).…”

An amelanistic Red Cornsnake (Pantherophis guttatus) as a possible identity for an unusual road-killed snake discovered in Sydney, Australia

“…This study (Toomes et al 2019) also noted that these vertebrates were generally species featured heavily in the international pet trade (Alacs and Georges 2008;García-Díaz et al 2017). To date, the Red-eared Slider is the only one of these species that has confirmed established populations in Australia (Robey et al 2011;Mo 2019b); however, the other species are all considered to be serious establishment risks (Henderson et al 2011;Vall-llosera et al 2017).…”