Temporal range: Late Pleistocene - Early Holocene 0.014–0.009 Ma
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The holotype mandible of P. maturin seen from three different angles.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Testudines
Suborder:
Pleurodira
Family:
Podocnemididae
Genus:
Peltocephalus
Species:
†P. maturin
Binomial name
†Peltocephalus maturin
Ferreira et al., 2024[1]
Peltocephalus maturin is an extinct species of podocnemidid river turtle closely related to the big-headed Amazon River turtle (Peltocephalus dumerilianus) that lived during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in what is now Brazil. P. maturin is known from a singular lower jaw of enormous size, with estimates suggesting its carapace may have reached lengths of around 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in). This would make it one of the largest freshwater turtles in history, comparable in size to the Paleocene podocnemidid Carbonemys and only exceeded by the Miocene podocnemidid Stupendemys. Like its closest relative, it was likely an omnivore, the narrow cutting surface of its lower jaw unsuited for strict herbivory or durophagy.
^Ferreira, G. S.; Nascimento, E. R.; Cadena, E. A.; Cozzuol, M. A.; Farina, B. M.; Pacheco, M. L. A. F.; Rizzutto, M. A.; Langer, M. C. (2024). "The latest freshwater giants: a new Peltocephalus (Pleurodira: Podocnemididae) turtle from the Late Pleistocene of the Brazilian Amazon". Biology Letters. 20 (3). doi:10.1098/rsbl.2024.0010. PMC 10932709. PMID 38471564.
and 9 Related for: Peltocephalus maturin information
Peltocephalusmaturin is an extinct species of podocnemidid river turtle closely related to the big-headed Amazon River turtle (Peltocephalus dumerilianus)...
M. A.; Langer, M. C. (2024). "The latest freshwater giants: a new Peltocephalus (Pleurodira: Podocnemididae) turtle from the Late Pleistocene of the...
Cretaceous Period, and the aquatic, freshwater Stupendemys and Peltocephalusmaturin of the South American Late Miocene and Late Pleistocene/Holocene...
it one of the world's largest turtles, tied with the Quaternary Peltocephalusmaturin and Eocene Drazinderetes in carapace length and only outsized by...
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F., ... & Langer, M. C. (2024). The latest freshwater giants: a new Peltocephalus (Pleurodira: Podocnemididae) turtle from the Late Pleistocene of the...
Similar results were later recovered in the 2024 description of Peltocephalusmaturin. Following the 2021 research of Cadena and colleagues, the Pebas...
big-headed turtle. This was later reaffirmed in the description of Peltocephalusmaturin, with the phylogenetic tree of said study being shown below. The...
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