Podocnemididae
| Podocnemididae Temporal range: Early Paleocene to present |
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| Yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Pleurodira |
| Family: |
Podocnemididae Cope, 1868 |
| Extant genera | |
|
and see text |
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| Synonyms | |
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Podocnemidinae |
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and see text
Podocnemidinae
Podocnemididae is a family of pleurodire turtles native to Madagascar and northern South America. Podocnemidid turtles are commonly called "side-necked turtles" in direct reference to their inability to retract their heads backwards, but hide them sideways. These turtles are all aquatic, inhabiting streams and other flowing water. Their shells are streamlined to aid in swimming.
Podocnemididae has been merged into the closely related family Pelomedusidae as the subfamily Podocnemidinae. Some authors still maintain this classification, but here it is preferred to keep them distinct families in the superfamily Pelomedusoidea instead.
The family Podocnemididae contains only three living genera, two of them monotypic:
The family also contains several prehistoric genera, including Albertwoodemys, Bairdemys, Bauruemys, , Caninemys, Cordichelys, Dacquemys, Lapparentemys, Latentemys, Lemurchelys, Mogharemys, Neochelys, Papoulemys, Peiropemys, Pricemys, Shweboemys, Stereogenys, Turkanemys, Cambaremys, Carbonemys, Cerrejonemys, Kenyemys, Roxochelys and Stupendemys.Stupendemys lived around 5.5 million years ago in northern South America, and was the largest freshwater turtle and the largest pleurodire known to date.
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