Specimen image via iDigBio · CC0
Chelus
Sign in to saveChelus is a genus of large freshwater turtles found in tropical South America. Formerly considered to be a monotypic genus, it now consists of two extant species after Chelus orinocensis was identified in 2020 from a genetic analysis.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassTestudines
- OrderTestudines
- FamilyChelidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 232
- With media
- 66
- Family
- Chelidae
- Collections
- UCMP, RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, TCWC, USNM, SDNHM, CAS
- Recorded in
- Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Brazil, Bolivia
Wikidata facts
Show 4 more facts
- taxon name
- Chelus
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon common name
- เต่ามาตามาตา
- Commons category
- Chelus
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Evolution
- Species
- References
Chelus is a genus of large freshwater turtles found in tropical South America. Formerly considered to be a monotypic genus, it now consists of two extant species after Chelus orinocensis was identified in 2020 from a genetic analysis.
== Evolution == Fossils of the extinct †C. colombianus have been found in Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil, including a skull dating to the early Miocene (~ 16 m.y.) of the Castilletes Formation, Cocinetas Basin, in Colombia. The fossil shows that the skull morphology of Chelus has been almost unchanged since the Miocene.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chelus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.