Spot-bellied Side-neck Turtle,

Phrynops hilarii (Duméril and Bibron, 1835)

On 31 October 2019 an individual of this species was encountered crossing the road on Ruta Nacional XX, c. 4 km north of the entrance to Ayolas at the crossroads towards Atinguy (27°19’49.0”S 56°46’19.2”W), Misiones department by SG (Fig. 1). The individual had a carapace length of 400 mm and was identifiable based on the distinctive carapace shape and head pattern (Richard 1999). This is the first record of the species in Misiones department, Paraguay and the first report from the Paraguayan stretch of the lower Paraná River Basin. However, it is not unexpected given the known distribution of the species in Argentina (Buenos Aires, Chaco, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Misiones, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero) (Richard, 1999; Derocco, Alcalde, Rosset, 2006; Cabrera, 2022). Previously, the species was known from just three Paraguayan records, all in the watershed of the Paraguay River (Cacciali, Scott, Aquino, Fitzgerald, Smith, 2016b). There are single literature records from Alto Paraguay / Presidente Hayes (Riacho Mosquito; Krieg, 1948), Concepción (near Concepción; Marano, 2011) and Ñeembucú (Pilar; Giraudo and Contreras, 1994) departments, in addition to a specimen collected by Captain Thomas J. Page (USNM 7320), that dates from a time when the borders of Paraguay were much greater. The species is considered “Endangered” in Paraguay (Martínez et al., 2020c).