Hadrianus

Hadrianus is an extinct genus of tortoise belonging to the Testudinidae found in the United States, the Yolomécatl Formation of Mexico, the Alai Beds of Kyrgyzstan and Spain and believed to be the oldest true tortoise known. The genus is thought to be closely related to the genus Manouria. The genus may have evolved in the subtropics of Asia and subsequently migrated to North America and Europe. Evangelos Vlachos (2018) reassessed the North American species attributed to the genus, and determined only two as accepted namely H. corsoni & H. majusculus. The remaining species were identified as either junior synonyms, moved to other genera or considered nomen dubium due to incomplete fossils.

Hadrianus

New Haven : J. D. & E. S. Dana · 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
PantestudinidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 41.03 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 27.3 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 39 occurrencesEocene — about 39 of 39 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 39 occurrencesOligocene57–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 3 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 3 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51.1 Mya41.03 Mya56.6 Mya26.7 Mya

39 occurrences of Hadrianus on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

39 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

10 formations

San Jose — 35.20°N, 106.60°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WUinta — 40.04°N, 109.28°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.28°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.32°N, 110.38°WWillwood — 44.40°N, 108.72°WWillwood — 43.92°N, 107.58°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°WAlai Beds — 42.00°N, 76.00°ELaredo — 27.53°N, 99.43°WYolomécatl — 17.46°N, 97.58°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WClarno — 44.90°N, 120.20°W

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The named rock units Hadrianus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hadrianus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Hadrianus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

475 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Hadrianus, 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

20 references

Each of the 39 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. 8 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 content1

Picture of Hadrianus

Credit
New Haven : J. D. & E. S. Dana
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itPantestudinidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1872)