Extinct turtle surfaces

Quietly swimming in Lawn Hill Creek, Far North Queensland, is a species of turtle that, according to scientists, has been extinct for 50,000 years.

Seemingly unaware that it should have died out in the Pleistocene era, a mature Lavarackorum elseya has been discovered by divers, and embarrassed scientists are trying to explain how the species could have gone completely unnoticed until now.

'Up to a point, Australian scientists have egg on their faces,' said palaeontologist Dr Arthur White.

This is not the first time Australian scientists have pronounced the extinction of a species prematurely. The mountain pygmy possum was classified as extinct - until one was found scampering, quite happily, in Victoria's Snowy Mountains.