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Hesperotestudo ✝

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Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	Not linked to a GBIF record.
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	67308	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=67308

Rank

genus (PBDB)

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Testudines : Testudinidae : Hesperotestudo

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
-	Testudinata
order	Testudines	Batsch 1788
suborder	Cryptodira	Cope 1868
-	Pantestudinoidea	Joyce et al. 2004
superfamily	Testudinoidea	Gray 1825
-	Pantestudinidae	Joyce et al. 2004
family	Testudinidae	Batsch 1788
genus	Hesperotestudo	(Williams 1950)

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Hesperotestudo	subgenus	belongs to Testudo	stated without evidence	Williams, 1950
Hesperotestudo	subgenus	belongs to Testudo	stated with evidence	Williams, 1953
Hesperotestudo	subgenus	belongs to Testudo	stated without evidence	Milstead, 1956
Hesperotestudo	subgenus	belongs to Geochelone	stated with evidence	Auffenberg, 1962
Hesperotestudo	genus	belongs to Testudinidae	stated without evidence	Hutchison, 1992
Hesperotestudo	subgenus	belongs to Geochelone	stated without evidence	Parris and Daeschler, 1995
Hesperotestudo	genus	belongs to Testudinidae	stated with evidence	Hutchison, 1996
Hesperotestudo	genus	belongs to Testudinidae	stated without evidence	Cisneros, 2005
Hesperotestudo	genus	belongs to Testudinidae	stated with evidence	de la Fuente et al., 2014

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

33.3 - 30.8 Ma
Oligocene

Last Recorded Appearance

0.13 - 0.01 Ma
Pleistocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Testudinidae)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

herbivore, herbivore (based on Testudinidae)

Reproduction

oviparous (based on Testudinidae)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

W. W. Milstead. 1956. Fossil turtles of Friesenhahn Cave, Texas, with the description of a new species of Testudo. Copeia 1956(3):162-171

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) angusticeps ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	1	20.4 Ma Miocene	20.4 Ma Miocene
Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) orthopygia ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	7	16.0 Ma Miocene	13.6 Ma Miocene
Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) wilsoni ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	5	28.4 Ma Oligocene	0.13 Ma Pleistocene
Hesperotestudo bermudae ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	1	0.13 Ma Pleistocene	0.13 Ma Pleistocene
Hesperotestudo crassiscutata ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	18	23.0 Ma Miocene	0.13 Ma Pleistocene
Testudo ducateli ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	16.0 Ma Miocene	16.0 Ma Miocene
Hesperotestudo gilbertii ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	1	11.6 Ma Miocene	11.6 Ma Miocene
Hesperotestudo orthopygia ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	12	16.0 Ma Miocene	4.90 Ma Pliocene
Hesperotestudo osborniana ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	5	24.8 Ma Oligocene	10.3 Ma Miocene
Hesperotestudo turgida ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	18	23.0 Ma Miocene	0.13 Ma Pleistocene
Hesperotestudo williamsi ✝ species	listed (PBDB)	1	20.4 Ma Miocene	20.4 Ma Miocene

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1877	Eupachemys Leidy
1902	Eupachemys Hay p. 448
1950	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Williams
1953	Testudo tedwhitei Williams p. 537
1953	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Williams p. 542
1956	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Milstead p. 168
1957	Testudo tedwhitei Ray
1962	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 628
1963	Geochelone (Caudochelys) Auffenberg p. 69
1963	Geochelone (Caudochelys) tedwhitei Auffenberg p. 80
1963	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 81
1971	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 115
1992	Hesperotestudo Hutchison
1995	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Parris and Daeschler p. 567
1996	Hesperotestudo Hutchison p. 345
2000	Hesperotestudo Meylan and Sterrer
2005	Hesperotestudo Cisneros p. 241
2014	Hesperotestudo de la Fuente et al.
2018	Hesperotestudo Vlachos
2019	Hesperotestudo May

Year	Name and Author
1877	Eupachemys Leidy
1902	Eupachemys Hay p. 448
1950	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Williams
1953	Testudo tedwhitei Williams p. 537
1953	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Williams p. 542
1956	Testudo (Hesperotestudo) Milstead p. 168
1957	Testudo tedwhitei Ray
1962	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 628
1963	Geochelone (Caudochelys) Auffenberg p. 69
1963	Geochelone (Caudochelys) tedwhitei Auffenberg p. 80
1963	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 81
1971	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Auffenberg p. 115
1992	Hesperotestudo Hutchison
1995	Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) Parris and Daeschler p. 567
1996	Hesperotestudo Hutchison p. 345
2000	Hesperotestudo Meylan and Sterrer
2005	Hesperotestudo Cisneros p. 241
2014	Hesperotestudo de la Fuente et al.
2018	Hesperotestudo Vlachos
2019	Hesperotestudo May

References

Milstead W. W. (1956) Fossil turtles of Friesenhahn Cave, Texas, with the description of a new species of Testudo, Copeia 1956 3, 162-171

Leidy J. Description of vertebrate remains, chiefly from the phosphate beds of South Carolina, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8, 209-260

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Williams E. (1953) A new fossil tortoise from the Thomas Farm Miocene of Florida, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 107 11, 537-552

Auffenberg W. (1962) A new species of Geochelone from the Pleistocene of Texas, Copeia 1962 3, 627-636

Auffenberg W. (1963) Fossil testudinine turtles of Florida: genera. Geochelone and Floridemys, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7 2, 53-97

Auffenberg W. (1971) A new fossil tortoise, with remarks on the origin of South American testudinines, Copeia 1971 1, 106-117

Hutchison J. H. (1992) Western North American reptile and amphibian record across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary and its climatic implications, D. R. Prothero and W. A. Berggren (eds.), Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution, 451-463

Parris D. C., Daeschler E. (1995) Pleistocene turtles of Port Kennedy Cave (late Irvingtonian), Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Journal of Paleontology 69 3, 563-568

Hutchison J. H. (1996) Testudines, The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America, 337-353

Meylan P. A., Sterrer W. (2000) Hesperotestudo (Testudines: Testudinidae) from the Pleistocene of Bermuda, with comments on the phylogenetic position of the genus, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 128, 51-76 doi:10.1006/zjls.1998.0199

Cisneros J. C. (2005) New Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from El Salvador, Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 8 3, 239-255

de la Fuente M. S., Sterli J., et al (2014) Origin, Evolution and Biogeographic History of South American Turtles, Springer Earth System Sciences doi:0.1007/978-3-319-00518-8

Vlachos E. (2018) A Review of the Fossil Record of North American Turtles of the Clade Pan-Testudinoidea, Bulletin of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 59 1, 3-94

May S. R. (2019) The Lapara Creek Fauna: Early Clarendonian of south Texas, USA, Palaeontologia Electronica 22.1.15, 1-129 doi:10.26879/929

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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