Cheloniidae

Cheloniidae is a family of typically large marine turtles that are characterised by their common traits such as having a flat streamlined wide and rounded shell and almost paddle-like flippers for their forelimbs. They are the only sea turtles to have stronger front limbs than back limbs. The six living species that make up this family are the green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, flatback sea turtle and the Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Cheloniidae

Auregann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Sits inside
ChelonioideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Chelonioidea

Time the record covers

At least 132 million years on record.

The record covers at least 132.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 137.05 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 5 of 308 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 35 of 308 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 15 of 308 occurrencesEocene — about 99 of 308 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 39 of 308 occurrencesMiocene — about 82 of 308 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 16 of 308 occurrencesPleistocene — about 10 of 308 occurrences140–135 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences135–130 Mya — about 1 occurrence126–121 Mya — about 1 occurrence107–103 Mya — about 2 occurrences103–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–93 Mya — about 2 occurrences93–89 Mya — about 3 occurrences89–84 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences84–79 Mya — about 4 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 5 occurrences75–70 Mya — about 8 occurrences70–65 Mya — about 11 occurrences65–61 Mya — about 6 occurrences61–56 Mya — about 8 occurrences56–51 Mya — about 20 occurrences51–47 Mya — about 19 occurrences47–42 Mya — about 17 occurrences42–37 Mya — about 28 occurrences37–33 Mya — about 19 occurrences33–28 Mya — about 18 occurrences28–23 Mya — about 16 occurrences23–19 Mya — about 11 occurrences19–14 Mya — about 28 occurrences14–9.3 Mya — about 24 occurrences9.3–4.7 Mya — about 24 occurrences4.7–0 Mya — about 29 occurrences132.6 Mya11.7 ka140 Mya0 Mya

308 occurrences of Cheloniidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

308 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

115 formations

Calvert — 38.17°N, 76.87°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.85°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 37.77°N, 77.28°WCalvert — 37.78°N, 77.52°WCalvert — 38.57°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.65°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.18°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WLondon Clay — 51.41°N, 0.91°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.94°N, 1.27°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.81°N, 81.91°WPeace River — 27.50°N, 82.50°WChandler Bridge — 32.86°N, 80.07°WChandler Bridge — 33.01°N, 80.06°WChandler Bridge — 32.89°N, 80.00°WChandler Bridge — 32.97°N, 80.15°WVic-Manlleu Marls — 41.99°N, 2.22°EVic-Manlleu Marls — 41.90°N, 2.22°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WShorym — 43.79°N, 51.49°EShorym — 43.80°N, 51.75°EShorym — 44.26°N, 52.74°EShorym — 44.19°N, 53.02°EHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 40.30°N, 74.10°WHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.16°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WRupel — 53.92°N, 9.52°ERupel — 51.20°N, 12.38°ERupel — 53.21°N, 11.32°EMaastricht — 50.82°N, 5.68°EMaastricht — 50.86°N, 5.83°EMaastricht — 50.83°N, 5.76°ENanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 38.07°N, 77.03°WKirkwood — 39.30°N, 75.20°WKirkwood — 40.17°N, 74.15°WBoom — 51.09°N, 4.36°EBoom — 50.92°N, 4.47°EBone Valley — 27.78°N, 81.94°WBone Valley — 27.66°N, 82.08°WBuchak — 49.53°N, 39.07°EOld Church — 37.62°N, 77.10°WFur — 56.92°N, 8.92°EFur — 56.84°N, 8.96°EPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°EPietra Leccese — 40.33°N, 18.19°ESt. Marys — 38.35°N, 76.39°WEarnley — 51.08°N, 1.17°WEarnley — 50.76°N, 0.86°WNavesink — 39.76°N, 75.13°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WTatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cheloniidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 91 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 80 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cheloniidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Cheloniidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,775 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 247 sites for Cheloniidae, and this reads 240 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

174 references

Each of the 308 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. 162 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Cheloniidae

Credit
Auregann
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cheloniidae indet. · NMP:Ob-00080

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
zmmu
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itChelonioidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1832