Macrochelys

Macrochelys is a genus of very large freshwater turtles in the family Chelydridae, native to the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Only a single extant species was recognized until 2014, when a study divided it into two or possibly three species. These turtles are easily recognized by three distinct dorsal ridges with raised spikes.

Macrochelys

Uncredited · 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
alligator snapping turtlePBDB
Sits inside
ChelydridaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Chelydridae
Life habit
aquatic, solitaryPBDB, for Chelydridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Chelydridae

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 16.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 23 occurrencesMiocene — about 9 of 23 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 23 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 23 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences16.3 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

23 occurrences of Macrochelys on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

23 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

12 formations

Bermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRunningwater — 42.42°N, 102.99°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WCaloosahatchee — 27.04°N, 81.82°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°W

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The named rock units Macrochelys 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.

Macrochelys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Macrochelys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

712 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Macrochelys, 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

19 references

Each of the 23 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. 7 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 Macrochelys

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Macrochelys 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 itChelydridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1856