Chelonoidis

Chelonoidis is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies.

Chelonoidis

Maarten Sepp · 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
GeocheloniniPBDB
Diet
herbivore, herbivorePBDB, for Testudinidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Testudinidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Testudinidae

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 21 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 29 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 152 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 87 of 152 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 152 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 45 of 152 occurrencesPleistocene30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences9.9–8.9 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences8.9–7.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.9–6.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences6.9–5.9 Mya — about 15 occurrences5.9–4.9 Mya — about 10 occurrences4.9–3.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.9–3.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.0–2.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.0–986 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences986 ka–0 Mya — about 46 occurrences21 Mya11.7 ka29.6 Mya0 Mya

152 occurrences of Chelonoidis on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

152 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

32 formations

Collon Cura — 42.11°S, 70.49°WCollon Cura — 42.22°S, 70.15°WCollon Cura — 42.58°S, 70.34°WCollon Cura — 42.56°S, 69.76°WCollon Cura — 42.22°S, 70.15°WCollon Cura — 42.57°S, 70.35°WCollon Cura — 42.54°S, 69.75°WCollon Cura — 42.68°S, 69.66°WCollon Cura — 42.73°S, 69.63°WCollon Cura — 42.84°S, 69.47°WCollon Cura — 42.86°S, 69.46°WHuayquerías — 33.92°S, 68.45°WHuayquerías — 33.93°S, 68.48°WHuayquerías — 33.91°S, 68.56°WHuayquerías — 33.98°S, 68.46°WHuayquerías — 33.96°S, 68.44°WHuayquerías — 33.81°S, 68.48°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WMonte Hermoso — 38.00°S, 61.00°WSarmiento — 43.28°S, 65.48°WSarmiento — 43.30°S, 65.42°WSarmiento — 43.36°S, 65.46°WSarmiento — 43.35°S, 65.72°WTunuyán — 33.85°S, 68.67°WTunuyán — 33.99°S, 68.47°WCollón Cura — 41.00°S, 70.58°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WToropí — 28.60°S, 59.03°WCollón Curá — 41.03°S, 70.26°WCollón Curá — 42.85°S, 69.46°WAisol — 34.91°S, 68.50°WAisol — 34.96°S, 68.54°WSolimões — 8.78°S, 68.90°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.33°WTouro Passo — 29.67°S, 56.83°WTouro Passo — 30.75°S, 53.75°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WChichinales — 39.13°S, 67.75°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WPetaca — 17.63°S, 63.77°WToropi — 28.99°S, 59.10°WArroyo Feliciano — 32.09°S, 60.48°WCasa Grande — 31.27°S, 64.45°WTimbúes — 32.45°S, 60.80°WEnsenada — 34.53°S, 58.47°WAndalhuala — 26.68°S, 66.03°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.22°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chelonoidis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chelonoidis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Chelonoidis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

844 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 141 sites for Chelonoidis, 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

61 references

Each of the 152 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. 49 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 content2

Picture of Chelonoidis

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itGeochelonini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Fitzinger 1835)