Puentemys
Name: Puentemys.
Phonetic: Pwen-tem-iss.
Named By: E. A. Cadena, J. I. Bloch
& C. A. Jaramillo - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Testudines,
Pleurodira, Bothremydidae, Bothremydini, Foxemydina.
Species: P. mushaisaensis
(type).
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: Shell up 1.51 meters long.
Known locations: Colombia - Cerrej�n Formation.
Time period: Paleocene.
Fossil representation: Partial shell.
Closely
related to the genus Foxemys,
Puentemys is
recognised as the largest
known bothremydid turtle in the fossil record with a shell length of
just over one and a half meters. Bothremydid turtles like Puentemys
are a special group of the Pleurodira, a group more popularly known
as ‘side-necked turtles’. This is because their necks are so
long that they cannot retract back under the skull, so instead the
neck folds to the side under the shell.
While
Puentemys is the largest known bothremymid turtle,
another
pleurodiran from South America named Carbonemys
had an even larger
shell!
Further reading
- New bothremydid turtle (Testudines, Pleurodira) from the
Paleocene of Northeastern Colombia. - Journal of Paleontology
86(4):688-698 - E. A. Cadena, J. I. Bloch &
C. A. Jaramillo - 2012.
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