Hesperotestudo

Hesperotestudo is an extinct genus of tortoise native to North and Central America from the Early Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. Species of Hesperotestudo varied widely in size, with a large undescribed specimen from the Late Pleistocene of El Salvador reaching 150 cm (4.9 ft) in carapace length, larger than that of extant giant tortoises. Historically considered a subgenus of Geochelone, it is now considered to be distantly related to that genus. Its relationships with other tortoises are uncertain. The exposed areas of the bodies of Hesperotestudo species were extensively covered with large dermal ossicles, which in life were covered in keratin. It has been suggested that species of Hesperotestudo were relatively tolerant of cold weather. Hesperotestudo became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene roughly co-incident with the arrival of the first humans in North America. There is apparently a site in Florida where one individual may have been killed that some suggested were evidence of butchering, although others suggested that the turtle was neither cooked nor does a ledge that was found near it date at the same time as it.

Hesperotestudo

A Cynical Idealist · CC BY 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
XerobatinaePBDB
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 39 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 45.9 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 2 of 116 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 116 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 48 of 116 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 16 of 116 occurrencesPleistocene — about 47 of 116 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–9.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.4–7.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.8–6.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.2–4.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.7–3.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.1–1.6 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 40 occurrences39.7 Mya129 ka46.8 Mya0 Mya

116 occurrences of Hesperotestudo on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

116 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

35 formations

Valentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.79°N, 100.07°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WMehrten — 37.60°N, 120.58°WMehrten — 37.67°N, 120.66°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WOgallala — 35.68°N, 99.60°WOgallala — 35.79°N, 99.61°WOgallala — 39.80°N, 99.35°WCalvert — 38.65°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WRexroad — 37.07°N, 100.60°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WLong Pine — 42.44°N, 99.93°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WSheep Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WVerde — 34.50°N, 112.50°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WPalomas — 34.00°N, 107.00°WSeymour — 33.75°N, 99.50°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WPeace River — 27.50°N, 82.50°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTulare — 35.89°N, 119.92°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hesperotestudo has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 51 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hesperotestudo and its relatives

Miocene

Where Hesperotestudo and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,732 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 107 sites for Hesperotestudo, 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

85 references

Each of the 116 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. 73 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 Hesperotestudo

Credit
A Cynical Idealist
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hesperotestudo 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 itXerobatinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Williams 1950)