Trionychoidea

Trionychia is a superfamily of turtles which encompasses the species that are commonly referred to as softshelled turtles as well as some others. The group contains two families, Carettochelyidae, which has only one living species, the pig-nosed turtle native to New Guinea and Northern Australia, and Trionychidae, the softshelled turtles, containing numerous species native to Asia, North America and Africa. These families likely diverged during the late Jurassic. The oldest known stem-trionychian is Sinaspideretes from the Late Jurassic of China.

Trionychoidea

LA Dawson · CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
CryptodiraPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Cryptodira

Time the record covers

At least 161 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 2 of 613 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 3 of 613 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 28 of 613 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 341 of 613 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 67 of 613 occurrencesEocene — about 94 of 613 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 613 occurrencesMiocene — about 26 of 613 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 613 occurrencesPleistocene — about 35 of 613 occurrences172–166 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences166–160 Mya — about 1 occurrence160–154 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences154–149 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences149–143 Mya — about 2 occurrences143–137 Mya — about 2 occurrences137–132 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences132–126 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences126–120 Mya — about 13 occurrences120–114 Mya — about 5 occurrences114–109 Mya — about 3 occurrences109–103 Mya — about 2 occurrences103–97 Mya — about 14 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 25 occurrences92–86 Mya — about 15 occurrences86–80 Mya — about 74 occurrences80–74 Mya — about 82 occurrences74–69 Mya — about 89 occurrences69–63 Mya — about 80 occurrences63–57 Mya — about 15 occurrences57–51 Mya — about 72 occurrences51–46 Mya — about 19 occurrences46–40 Mya — about 7 occurrences40–34 Mya — about 9 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–5.7 Mya — about 13 occurrences5.7–0 Mya — about 51 occurrences161.5 Mya11.7 ka172 Mya0 Mya

613 occurrences of Trionychoidea 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

613 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

127 formations

Hell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 46.03°N, 103.77°WHell Creek — 46.21°N, 103.77°WHell Creek — 46.38°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.94°WHell Creek — 46.46°N, 104.02°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 45.94°N, 103.95°WHell Creek — 47.88°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.62°N, 107.32°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.98°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.27°WHell Creek — 47.53°N, 106.88°WHell Creek — 47.61°N, 106.90°WHell Creek — 46.23°N, 104.23°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.50°WHell Creek — 45.87°N, 103.79°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.19°WKirtland — 36.29°N, 108.23°WKirtland — 36.34°N, 108.08°WKirtland — 36.19°N, 107.89°WKirtland — 36.20°N, 108.10°WKirtland — 36.50°N, 108.08°WKirtland — 36.14°N, 108.11°WKirtland — 36.29°N, 108.54°WKirtland — 36.17°N, 107.80°WKirtland — 36.51°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 43.92°N, 107.58°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.21°N, 108.48°WWillwood — 44.08°N, 108.22°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 43.99°N, 107.72°WDenver — 38.80°N, 104.80°WDenver — 38.86°N, 104.61°WDenver — 39.63°N, 104.33°WDenver — 39.50°N, 104.70°WDenver — 38.91°N, 104.53°WKaiparowits — 37.42°N, 111.79°WKaiparowits — 37.58°N, 111.94°WKaiparowits — 37.75°N, 111.61°WKaiparowits — 37.30°N, 112.43°WKaiparowits — 37.53°N, 111.76°WKaiparowits — 37.45°N, 111.53°WFruitland — 36.49°N, 108.49°WFruitland — 36.27°N, 108.26°WFruitland — 36.10°N, 108.08°WFruitland — 36.12°N, 107.78°WFruitland — 36.29°N, 108.55°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 40.30°N, 74.10°WHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WHornerstown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WHornerstown — 39.90°N, 74.82°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.16°WHornerstown — 40.13°N, 74.51°WKhodzhakul — 40.10°N, 67.00°EKhodzhakul — 40.60°N, 71.83°EKhodzhakul — 40.10°N, 65.80°EKhodzhakul — 41.97°N, 61.07°EKhodzhakul — 42.37°N, 60.03°ECerro del Pueblo — 26.12°N, 101.12°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.47°N, 101.70°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.47°N, 101.42°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.51°N, 101.34°WCerro del Pueblo — 25.50°N, 101.75°WBostobe — 46.76°N, 64.33°EBostobe — 49.52°N, 74.39°EBostobe — 46.57°N, 63.87°EBostobe — 46.57°N, 64.38°EBostobe — 46.48°N, 64.43°EBostobe — 45.95°N, 64.65°EBaynshire — 43.14°N, 107.52°EBaynshire — 44.48°N, 110.03°EBaynshire — 44.45°N, 107.38°EBaynshire — 44.27°N, 109.91°EBaynshire — 43.50°N, 107.76°EBaynshire — 43.56°N, 107.91°EBaynshire — 44.35°N, 109.35°EBaynshire — 44.36°N, 109.35°EAguja — 29.20°N, 103.55°WAguja — 29.25°N, 103.55°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.13°N, 104.07°WWind River — 43.03°N, 108.63°WWind River — 43.27°N, 107.50°WKirtland? — 36.29°N, 108.54°WKirtland? — 36.27°N, 108.17°WWasatch — 42.24°N, 110.19°WWasatch — 42.76°N, 109.92°WWasatch — 41.64°N, 108.53°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 43.85°N, 108.35°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 39.20°N, 108.20°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°EBissekty — 41.29°N, 61.50°ESao Khua — 16.89°N, 104.08°ESao Khua — 16.68°N, 103.57°ESao Khua — 16.90°N, 102.65°ESao Khua — 16.86°N, 104.48°ESao Khua — 17.07°N, 104.16°EBridger — 41.07°N, 110.00°WBridger — 41.08°N, 110.30°WDinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.36°WYalovach — 40.49°N, 69.70°EYalovach — 40.12°N, 70.63°EJudith River — 46.47°N, 109.30°WJudith River — 48.93°N, 110.58°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.10°WJudith River — 46.44°N, 109.83°WOldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.84°WOldman — 49.16°N, 110.72°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.17°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°W

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The named rock units Trionychoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 103 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 78 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Trionychoidea and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

2,178 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 541 sites for Trionychoidea, 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

180 references

Each of the 613 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. 168 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 Trionychoidea

Credit
LA Dawson
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Trionychoidea was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itCryptodira through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Fitzinger 1826)