Apalone spinifera

The spiny softshell turtle is a species of softshell turtle, one of the largest freshwater turtle species in North America. Both the common name, spiny softshell, and the specific name, spinifera (spine-bearing), refer to the spiny, cone-like projections on the leading edge of the carapace, which are not scutes (scales).

Apalone spinifera

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
spiny softshell turtlePBDB
Sits inside
ApalonePBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Trionychidae
Life habit
aquatic, solitaryPBDB, for Trionychidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Trionychidae
Environment
brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Trionychidae

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 2 of 6 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 6 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 6 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 6 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7 Mya129 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

6 occurrences of Apalone spinifera on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

6 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Ecor Rouge Sand — 30.70°N, 88.08°W

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The named rock units Apalone spinifera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Apalone spinifera and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Apalone spinifera and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

217 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Apalone spinifera, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 6 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Apalone spinifera

Credit
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Apalone spinifera · TxVP:M:3817

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itApalone through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (LeSueur 1827)