Pleurodira

The Pleurodira are one of the two living suborders of turtles more known commonly as the side-necked turtles. The name "Pleurodira" translates to "side neck", whereas the Cryptodira are known as hidden-necked turtles; these names reflect the distinct neck retraction mechanisms between the two suborders, which are the product of diverging evolutionary histories. Within the Pleurodira, three living families are represented: Chelidae, the Austro-South American side-necked turtles, the Pelomedusidae, the African mud terrapins, and the Podocnemididae, the American side-neck river turtles.

Pleurodira

fir0002 flagstaffotos [at] gmail.com Canon 20D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 · GFDL 1.2 · 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
sideneck turtlePBDB
Sits inside
TestudinesPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
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 2 of 1085 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 52 of 1085 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 411 of 1085 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 100 of 1085 occurrencesEocene — about 162 of 1085 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 30 of 1085 occurrencesMiocene — about 193 of 1085 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 49 of 1085 occurrencesPleistocene — about 66 of 1085 occurrences152–147 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences147–142 Mya — about 3 occurrences142–137 Mya — about 1 occurrence137–132 Mya — about 4 occurrences132–127 Mya — about 1 occurrence127–122 Mya — about 4 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 11 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 15 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 7 occurrences107–101 Mya — about 6 occurrences101–96 Mya — about 22 occurrences96–91 Mya — about 17 occurrences91–86 Mya — about 12 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 37 occurrences81–76 Mya — about 49 occurrences76–71 Mya — about 83 occurrences71–66 Mya — about 192 occurrences66–61 Mya — about 68 occurrences61–56 Mya — about 33 occurrences56–51 Mya — about 35 occurrences51–46 Mya — about 40 occurrences46–41 Mya — about 44 occurrences41–36 Mya — about 31 occurrences36–30 Mya — about 18 occurrences30–25 Mya — about 14 occurrences25–20 Mya — about 15 occurrences20–15 Mya — about 52 occurrences15–10 Mya — about 65 occurrences10–5.1 Mya — about 75 occurrences5.1–0 Mya — about 128 occurrences143.1 Mya11.7 ka152 Mya0 Mya

1,085 occurrences of Pleurodira on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

1,085 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

295 formations

La Colonia — 43.01°S, 67.62°WLa Colonia — 42.71°S, 67.47°WLa Colonia — 42.96°S, 67.55°WLa Colonia — 42.93°S, 67.54°WLa Colonia — 43.12°S, 67.70°WSolimões — 9.97°S, 67.80°WSolimões — 10.13°S, 67.81°WSolimões — 9.05°S, 68.77°WSolimões — 8.42°S, 70.51°WSolimões — 9.12°S, 70.13°WSolimões — 8.79°S, 67.47°WSolimões — 7.72°S, 67.00°WSolimões — 10.98°S, 69.71°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.52°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.35°WSolimões — 10.27°S, 67.83°WSolimões — 9.13°S, 72.70°WSolimões — 9.20°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 9.39°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WSolimões — 8.97°S, 72.78°WSolimões — 9.02°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.92°S, 72.78°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 67.58°WSolimões — 10.98°S, 68.73°WSolimões — 9.13°S, 68.68°WSolimões — 8.87°S, 67.78°WSolimões — 8.96°S, 68.62°WSolimões — 7.85°S, 72.67°WSolimões — 6.50°S, 69.67°WSalamanca — 45.50°S, 67.18°WSalamanca — 45.27°S, 66.97°WSalamanca — 45.25°S, 67.11°WSalamanca — 45.25°S, 67.07°WSarmiento — 45.31°S, 67.74°WSarmiento — 45.40°S, 67.75°WSarmiento — 45.40°S, 67.62°WSarmiento — 45.39°S, 67.74°WConques — 42.27°N, 0.73°EConques — 42.15°N, 1.00°WConques — 42.32°N, 0.57°EConques — 42.38°N, 0.39°EConques — 42.35°N, 0.52°EAllen — 40.73°S, 67.17°WAllen — 40.06°S, 66.80°WAllen — 38.76°S, 67.98°WAllen — 39.47°S, 67.33°WAllen — 38.99°S, 67.65°WAllen — 39.51°S, 67.38°WMaevarano — 15.90°S, 46.58°EMaevarano — 16.12°S, 45.74°EMaevarano — 15.98°S, 46.05°EHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 39.98°N, 74.71°WHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WHornerstown — 39.90°N, 74.82°WHornerstown — 40.30°N, 74.10°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.16°WTar Heel — 34.57°N, 78.50°WTar Heel — 34.61°N, 78.60°WUrumaco — 11.22°N, 70.27°WUrumaco — 11.22°N, 70.25°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.27°WCastilletes — 11.86°N, 71.37°WCastilletes — 12.00°N, 71.03°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.32°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 2.81°S, 73.55°WPebas — 3.74°S, 73.25°WPebas — 4.01°S, 73.15°WElrhaz — 16.44°N, 9.12°EElrhaz — 16.47°N, 9.17°EElrhaz — 16.70°N, 9.33°EAdamantina — 21.10°S, 49.28°WAdamantina — 25.73°S, 48.58°WAdamantina — 22.00°S, 49.00°WAdamantina — 21.26°S, 48.54°WAdamantina — 21.22°S, 48.51°WAdamantina — 20.92°S, 50.45°WAdamantina — 21.59°S, 51.19°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSolimoes — 10.93°S, 69.92°WSolimoes — 10.94°S, 69.34°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EAguja — 29.36°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.20°N, 103.60°WAguja — 29.33°N, 103.48°WAguja — 29.28°N, 103.56°WEntrala — 41.43°N, 5.57°WEntrala — 41.59°N, 5.69°WEntrala — 41.40°N, 5.67°WEntrala — 41.40°N, 5.29°WEntrala — 41.57°N, 5.76°WDakhla — 29.99°N, 26.54°ECerrejón — 11.15°N, 72.55°WCerrejón — 11.14°N, 72.56°WAnacleto — 38.35°S, 68.78°WAnacleto — 39.12°S, 67.67°WAnacleto — 37.39°S, 69.14°WAnacleto — 37.51°S, 68.94°WAnacleto — 39.38°S, 67.69°WAnacleto — 38.55°S, 68.45°WLameta — 21.18°N, 80.37°ELameta — 20.25°N, 79.10°ELameta — 20.35°N, 79.05°ELameta — 20.71°N, 79.29°EUmm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°ELa Victoria — 3.27°N, 75.12°WLa Victoria — 3.36°N, 75.16°WLa Victoria — 3.31°N, 75.15°WLa Victoria — 3.22°N, 75.22°W

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The named rock units Pleurodira has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 271 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 183 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pleurodira and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Pleurodira and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

2,494 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 839 sites for Pleurodira, and this reads 240 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

464 references

Each of the 1,085 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. 452 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 Pleurodira

Credit
fir0002 flagstaffotos [at] gmail.com Canon 20D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
Licence
GFDL 1.2
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pleurodira 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 itTestudines through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1865)