Hesperotestudo

Hesperotestudo
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Late Pleistocene
Plastron of H. crassiscutata, University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Skull of Hesperotestudo osborniana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: †Hesperotestudo
Williams, 1950
Type species
Hesperotestudo osborniana
(Hay, 1904)
Species

See text

Shell of H. orthopygia

Hesperotestudo ("Western turtle") is an extinct genus of tortoise native to North and Central America (ranging as far south as Costa Rica[1]) from the Early Miocene to the Late Pleistocene.[2] Species of Hesperotestudo varied widely in size, with a large undescribed specimen from the Late Pleistocene of El Salvador reaching

150 cm (4.9 ft) in carapace length, larger than that of extant giant tortoises.[3] Historically considered a subgenus of Geochelone, it is now considered to be distantly related to that genus. Its relationships with other tortoises are uncertain.[2] The exposed areas of the bodies of Hesperotestudo species were extensively covered with large dermal ossicles, which in life were covered in keratin. It has been suggested that species of Hesperotestudo were relatively tolerant of cold weather.[4] Hesperotestudo became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene roughly co-incident with the arrival of the first humans in North America. There is apparently a site in Florida where one individual may have been killed that some suggested were evidence of butchering, although others suggested that the turtle was neither cooked nor does a ledge that was found near it date at the same time as it.[3][5][6]

  1. ^ Carbot-Chanona, Gerardo; Rivera-Velázquez, Gustavo; Jiménez-Hidalgo, Eduardo; Reynoso, Víctor Hugo (2020-11-04). "The fossil record of turtles and tortoises (Testudines) of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands, with comments on its taxonomy and paleobiogeography: a bibliographic review". Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas. 37 (3): 269–283. doi:10.22201/cgeo.20072902e.2020.3.1581. ISSN 2007-2902.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Rhodin, A.G.J.; Thomson, S.; Georgalis, G.; Karl, H.-V.; Danilov, I.G.; Takahashi, A.; de la Fuente, M.S.; Bourque, J.R.; Delfino M.; Bour, R.; Iverson, J.B.; Shaffer, H.B.; van Dijk, P.P.; et al. (Turtle Extinctions Working Group) (2015). "Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: first checklist and review of extinct Pleistocene and Holocene chelonians" (PDF). Chelonian Research Monographs. 5 (8): 000e.1–66. doi:10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2022.
  4. ^ Moll, Don; Brown, Lauren E. (2017). "Reinterpretation of the Climatic Adaptation of Giant Fossil Tortoises in North America". Herpetological Journal. 27 (3): 276–286.
  5. ^ Dunbar, James S.; Webb, S. David (1996). "17. Bone and Ivory Tools from Submerged Paleoindian Sites in Florida". In Anderson, David G.; Sassaman, Kenneth E. (eds.). The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast. University Alabama Press. pp. 331–353.
  6. ^ Grayson, Donald K.; Meltzer, David J. (2003). "A requiem for North American overkill". Journal of Archaeological Science. 30 (5): 585–593. Bibcode:2003JArSc..30..585G. doi:10.1016/S0305-4403(02)00205-4.