Podocnemis

Podocnemis is a genus of aquatic turtles, commonly known as South American river turtles, in the family Podocnemididae. The genus consists of six extant species occurring in tropical South America. Four additional species are known only from fossils. These turtles have pig-like noses but are not closely related to the pig-nosed turtle.

Podocnemis

Daiju Azuma · CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
river turtlePBDB
Sits inside
PodocnemidinaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, carnivorePBDB, for Podocnemididae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Podocnemididae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Podocnemididae

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 85.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 5 of 47 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 47 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 1 of 47 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 47 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 23 of 47 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 47 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 47 occurrences87–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences79–76 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 5 occurrences12–8.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.7–5.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.8–2.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.9–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka87 Mya0 Mya

47 occurrences of Podocnemis 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

47 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

20 formations

Solimões — 9.97°S, 67.80°WSolimões — 10.13°S, 67.81°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WSolimões — 9.41°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.92°S, 72.78°WSolimões — 6.50°S, 69.67°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 2.81°S, 73.55°WAdamantina — 21.10°S, 49.28°WAdamantina — 25.73°S, 48.58°WAdamantina — 22.00°S, 49.00°WLa Victoria — 3.27°N, 75.12°WLa Victoria — 3.36°N, 75.16°WLa Victoria — 3.22°N, 75.22°WLothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°ELothagam 3 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EMarada — 29.23°N, 19.20°ESolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EMoghara — 30.38°N, 28.82°ERío Loro — 26.60°S, 65.16°WSanta Lucía — 18.03°S, 65.58°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WDukamaje — 15.41°N, 5.73°EMaiz Gordo — 23.08°S, 65.33°WPuesto La Flecha — 29.36°S, 68.60°WVictoria — 3.37°N, 75.15°WSão José do Rio Preto — 20.99°S, 49.26°W

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The named rock units Podocnemis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Podocnemis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Podocnemis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

477 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Podocnemis, 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

30 references

Each of the 47 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. 18 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 Podocnemis

Credit
Daiju Azuma
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
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
Podocnemis expansa · zmuc:rept:Uninv_204

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 itPodocnemidinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagler 1830