Gastroptychus Caullery, 1896

Ptychogaster Milne Edwards, 1880: 63 [junior homonym of Ptychogaster Pomel, 1847 (fossil Reptilia: Chelonia)].

Gastroptychus Caullery, 1896: 390 [replacement name for Ptychogaster Pomel, 1847].

Remarks. Only one species of Gastroptychus, G. rogeri Baba, 2000, was previously known from Australia. Three species, Gastroptychus spinirostris n. sp., G. hendersoni (Alcock & Anderson, 1899), and G. sternoornatus (Van Dam, 1933) are added to the known Australian fauna. It should be noted that G. spinirostris, G. chacei and G. ciliatus differ from congeners, and resemble species of Uroptychus in the distinctly concave instead of transverse or convex anterior margin of the sternal plastron and in bearing a broadened instead of spiniform rostrum. The three species, however, agree with Baba’s (1988) concept of Gastroptychus in having distinctly spinose walking legs and are thus retained in the genus pending ongoing revisionary studies by K. Baba.