In Depth
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.
