Pelomedusidae

Pelomedusidae is a family of freshwater turtles endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar, São Tomé, and the Seychelles. They range in size from 12 to 45 cm in carapace length, and are generally roundish in shape. They are unable to fully withdraw their heads into their shells, instead drawing them to the side and folding them beneath the upper edge of their shells, hence are called African side-necked turtles.

Pelomedusidae

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 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
PelomedusoidesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 143 million years on record.

The record covers at least 143.1 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 149.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 1 of 97 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 3 of 97 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 16 of 97 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 7 of 97 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 97 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 97 occurrencesMiocene — about 26 of 97 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 97 occurrencesPleistocene — about 15 of 97 occurrences152–147 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences147–142 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences142–137 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences137–132 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences132–127 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 2 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences101–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–91 Mya — about 1 occurrence91–86 Mya — about 1 occurrence86–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–76 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences76–71 Mya — about 3 occurrences71–66 Mya — about 7 occurrences66–61 Mya — about 4 occurrences61–56 Mya — about 4 occurrences51–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–15 Mya — about 10 occurrences15–10 Mya — about 9 occurrences10–5.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.1–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences143.1 Mya11.7 ka152 Mya0 Mya

97 occurrences of Pelomedusidae 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

97 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

45 formations

Umm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°EMaboko — 0.17°N, 34.62°EMaboko — 0.13°S, 34.61°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°ELameta — 20.25°N, 79.10°ELameta — 20.35°N, 79.05°ELameta — 20.71°N, 79.29°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EHadar — 11.12°N, 40.57°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°ENgorora — 0.90°N, 35.85°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°ENyakabingo — 1.00°N, 30.50°ESan Sebastian — 18.34°N, 67.00°WSan Sebastian — 18.42°N, 67.15°WBet Meir or Amminadav — 31.95°N, 35.26°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.82°ETiim — 0.84°N, 35.82°ENachukui — 4.27°N, 35.82°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EBaynunah — 24.00°N, 52.33°E

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The named rock units Pelomedusidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 21 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pelomedusidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Pelomedusidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

870 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 95 sites for Pelomedusidae, 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

63 references

Each of the 97 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. 51 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 Pelomedusidae

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itPelomedusoides through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1868