It reaches a maximum carapace width of 20 mm, with sexually mature females having a carapace 6.1 mm or more across.
Males typically have a carapace 60 mm long, and females 98 mm long, although they may reach up to 150 mm long in exceptional cases.
Most cases of key innovation such as feathers in birds [10], the turtle carapace [2], [3], and the snapping claw in alpheid shrimps [11], involve extreme morphological modifications that subsequently improve performance capacity [12].
For all turtles, SRDLs were attached on the pseudo-carapace using custom-fitted harness systems except for two turtles (FG05-4 and FG05-5) for which SRDLs were directly attached to the carapace [36].
We then converted any colour markings on the carapace to white before standardising the size and orientation of the images using ENVI software (Research Systems Colorado) to warp them to a standard carapace 45 mm wide and 25 mm high.
For all prey populations used in both predator experiments, the ANOVA's indicated body length, from top of the compound eye to the base of the carapace (F1, 98 = 75.32, P < 0.001) and total body length, from highest point of helmet or head to the tip of the tailspine (F1, 98 = 394.42, P < 0.001) were both significant by species.
Females used were slightly smaller (mean ± standard error (SE) carapace size 35.3 ± 0.5 mm, N = 30) than males (37.1 ± 0.5 mm, N = 30).
In the coldest water (16°C) both turtles lost about 7% of qT through their flippers with the remaining 93% being lost through the body (ie. plastron and carapace, Table 1 and 2).
Males' bodies are 5 to 7.5 millimetres long, with carapaces 2.4 to 3.3 millimetres long.
