Megalochelys

Megalochelys is an extinct genus of tortoises that lived from the Miocene to Pleistocene. They are noted for their giant size, the largest known for any tortoise, with a maximum carapace length of over 2 m (6.5 ft) in M. atlas. The genus ranged from western India and Pakistan to as far east as Sulawesi and Timor in Indonesia, though the island specimens likely represent distinct species.

Megalochelys

Jonathan Chen · 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
TestudinidaePBDB
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 2.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 3 of 14 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 6 of 14 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 14 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–809 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.333 Mya2.58 Mya12.1 Mya0 Mya

14 occurrences of Megalochelys on record. 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

14 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

5 formations

Pinjor — 30.73°N, 76.78°EWalanae — 4.39°S, 120.00°EWalanae — 4.18°S, 120.02°EPiram Conglomerate — 21.62°N, 72.38°EPucangan — 7.40°S, 110.82°EKali Glagah — 7.24°S, 109.01°E

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The named rock units Megalochelys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

109 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Megalochelys, 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

11 references

Each of the 14 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. 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 Megalochelys

Credit
Jonathan Chen
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
Megalochelys atlas · amnh:farb:6332

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 itTestudinidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Falconer and Cautley 1837