Solitudo

Solitudo is an extinct genus of tortoise that was found during the Pliocene and Pleistocene on the Mediterranean islands of Menorca, Malta and Sicily. The genus includes three described species, Solitudo robusta, Solitudo gymnesica and Solitudo sicula as well as a likely fourth, undescribed species from Monte Pellegrino in Sicily. Solitudo sicula, the youngest of the species, died out approximately 12.5 thousand years BP. The largest species, Solitudo gymnesica, has been estimated to have reached a carapace length of 1.1–1.3 m (3.6–4.3 ft).

Solitudo

Geological Society of London · 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
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 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 27 of 36 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 36 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 6 of 36 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 36 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.333 Mya129 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

36 occurrences of Solitudo 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

36 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 the same rock

52 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Solitudo, 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

6 references

Each of the 36 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 content1

Picture of Solitudo

Credit
Geological Society of London
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Solitudo was found in Sketchfab.

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 itTestudinidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Valenti et al. 2022