Cast of a Meiolania platyceps skeleton, American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Clade:
Pantestudines
Clade:
Testudinata
Family:
†Meiolaniidae
Genus:
†Meiolania Owen, 1886
Species
Meiolania brevicollis Megirian, 1992
Meiolania platyceps Owen, 1886
Meiolania mackayi Anderson, 1925
?Meiolania damelipi White, 2010
Synonyms
Ceratochelys Huxley, 1887
Miolania Woodward, 1901
Meiolania is an extinct genus of meiolaniid stem-turtle native to Australasia throughout much of the Cenozoic. Meiolania was a large turtle, with the shell alone ranging from 0.7–2 m (2 ft 4 in – 6 ft 7 in) in length. Four species are currently recognized, although the validity of two of them is disputed. Meiolania was first described as a species of lizard related to Megalania by Richard Owen towards the end of the 19th century, before the continued discovery of additional fossils solidified its placement as a kind of turtle.
The best known species is M. platyceps, known from hundreds of specimens collected in Pleistocene strata of Lord Howe Island. The oldest known species is M. brevicollis from the Miocene of mainland Australia. Other species include M. mackayi from Pleistocene New Caledonia, which may be synonymous with M. platyceps, ? M. damelipi from Holocene Vanuatu, which may represent a non-meiolaniid turtle, and the Wyandotte species, an unnamed form from Pleistocene Australia tentatively identified as M. cf. platyceps by meiolaniid researcher Eugene S. Gaffney. Additional fossil remains indicate the presence of Meiolania or a close relative in multiple localities across Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji.
Meiolania was a well-armored animal with a somewhat raised carapace with spiky edges, osteoderm-covered frontlimbs, a head adorned by massive cow-like horns and a tail encased by spiked tail rings and tipped by a large bony club. It has been hypothesized that many of these features could have been used either in self-defense or in intraspecific combat during the mating season. Furthermore, the horns could have served a role during foraging, helping the animal brush aside foliage while grazing. The discovery of fossil nests and certain adaptations against sand entering its nasal cavity indicate that they spent at least some time in arid regions or on the beaches of the islands they inhabited.
Neither the dispersal nor the extinction of Meiolania are fully understood. Several hypotheses have been proposed ranging from it spreading across the now submerged continent of Zealandia to it swimming between islands (the latter of which is now considered unlikely based on its heavy build and lack of aquatic adaptations). The extinction of this turtle was most likely a multi-facetted process with ties to climate change, reduction of its native territory by rising sea levels, predation from invasive livestock and possibly hunting by humans. However, some of the youngest records are uncertain, with the roughly 3.000 year old ?M. damelipi possibly being another type of turtle and the even younger, ca. 2.000-1.500 year old, Pindai Cave meiolaniid being indeterminate at a genus level.
Meiolania is an extinct genus of meiolaniid stem-turtle native to Australasia throughout much of the Cenozoic. Meiolania was a large turtle, with the shell...
the Middle Jurassic. They are best known from the last surviving genus, Meiolania, which lived in Australia from the Miocene until the Pleistocene, and...
from Argentina to London, allowing him to compare it to the remains of Meiolania platyceps, a turtle named by Richard Owen from Australia. According to...
possibly New South Wales (Australia). It overall resembled its relative, Meiolania, save that the largest pair of horns on its head stuck out to the sides...
that is present between the labial and lingual ridges of Meiolania and unlike in Meiolania or Niolamia, the labial ridge is taller. Both run parallel...
such as the Elephant bird, moa, Haast's eagle, Quinkana, Megalania and Meiolania. The severe climatic changes during the Ice Age had major impacts on the...
species, such as the land crocodile (Mekosuchus kalpokasi), land tortoise (Meiolania damelipi) and various flightless bird species. Lapita settlements reached...
bird over a metre tall not closely related to any living species, and Meiolania, a giant horned turtle that diverged from living turtles during the Jurassic...
distinctive bull-like horns of Meiolania. Gaffney and colleagues found that Warkalania shared several features of its horns with Meiolania, including the size of...
Pleistocene, comparably sized or larger tortoises were present in Australia (Meiolania), southern Asia (Megalochelys), Europe (Titanochelon), Madagascar (Aldabrachelys)...
obtained in the case of the distantly-related giant meiolaniid turtle Meiolania damelipi in Vanuatu. One interesting relic is the shell of an extinct...
constrictor snake) Several spp. of Meiolaniidae (giant armoured turtles) Meiolania Ninjemys During the 19th century, a number of scientists remarked on the...
woodlands. It is most similar to the extant olive python (Liasis olivacea). Meiolania was a genus of huge terrestrial cryptodire turtles measuring 2.5 m (8 ft)...
and eggs, land and marine snails, and the extinct giant horned turtle (Meiolania platyceps) which is not closely related to any living kind of turtle....
clade of stem-group turtles, defined as all taxa more closely related to Meiolania than to Cryptodira and Pleurodira. It is known from the Early Cretaceous...
biologists and conservationists. The island was home to horned fossil turtles (Meiolania mackayi) and terrestrial fossil crocodiles (Mekosuchus inexpectatus) which...
for animals that are found in most places around continents. Examples: Meiolania ("weak wanderer"); Megalania ("great wanderer") leo-: Pronunciation: /lɛʊ/...
reached 70 cm (2.3 ft) in carapace length. The largest meiolaniid was Meiolania. Meiolania platyceps had a carapace 100 cm (3.3 ft) long and probably reached...
relative of turtles survived until about 2,000 years ago, the Australasian Meiolania at about 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) long and a weight of over 1 t (2,200 lb). Later...
koala and wombat species, the tapir-like Palorchestes, the giant turtle Meiolania, and the giant bird Genyornis. Diprotodon coexisted with the diprotodontid...
Perichelydia Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Meiolania Helochelydra skull Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom:...
Wonambi naracoortensis, a five-metre snake, a five-metre lizard and Meiolania. The direct cause of the mass extinctions is uncertain: it may have been...
Woodward A. S. 1901. On some extinct reptiles from Patagonia, of the genera Meiolania, Dinilysia, and Genyodectes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of...
reintroduced to Eurasia in the 20th century. c. 810 BC Vanuatu horned turtle ?Meiolania damelipi Vanuatu and Viti Levu, Fiji Hunting. 800-700 BC Syrian elephant...
of tortoises of similar or larger size have been found in Australia (Meiolania), southern Asia (Megalochelys), Madagascar (Aldabrachelys), North America...
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