Pelusios

Pelusios is a genus of African side-necked turtles. With 17 described species, it is one of the most diverse genera of the turtle order (Testudines).

Pelusios

Loran · CC BY 2.0 · 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
PelomedusidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pelomedusidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pelomedusidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Pelomedusidae

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesMiocene — about 10 of 37 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 37 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 37 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 8 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

37 occurrences of Pelusios 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

37 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

11 formations

Maboko — 0.17°N, 34.62°EMaboko — 0.13°S, 34.61°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EHadar — 11.12°N, 40.57°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°ENyakabingo — 1.00°N, 30.50°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°ETiim — 0.84°N, 35.82°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pelusios has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pelusios and its relatives

Miocene

Where Pelusios and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

295 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Pelusios, 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

23 references

Each of the 37 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. 11 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 content2

Picture of Pelusios

Credit
Loran
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Pelusios subniger · MVZ:Herp:MVZ:Herp:199668

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPelomedusidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagler 1830