''Carbonemys cofrinii'' is an extinct giant podocnemidid

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

known from the Middle Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of the

Cesar-Ranchería Basin The Cesar-Ranchería Basin ( es, Cuenca Cesar-Ranchería) is a sedimentary basin in northeastern Colombia. It is located in the southern part of the department of La Guajira and northeastern portion of Cesar. The basin is bound by the Oca Faul ...

in northeastern Colombia. The formation is dated at around 60 to 57 million years ago, starting at about five million years after the KT extinction event.

Discovery

In 2005, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

specimen was discovered in the

Cerrejón Cerrejón is a large open-pit coal mine in Northern Colombia owned by Glencore. At Cerrejón, low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal from the Cerrejón Formation is excavated. At over the mine is one of the largest of its type, the largest in Lati ...

coal mine by a North Carolina State University doctoral student named

Edwin Cadena The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (die ...

. It had a shell that measured about and estimated at for complete carapace, making it one of the world's largest turtles.

Paleoecology

The jaws of ''Carbonemys'' were massive and would be powerful enough to eat crocodilians, that were abundant in the first neotropical forest of the Cerrejón Formation. This turtle coexisted with the giant

boid The Boidae, commonly known as boas or boids, are a family of nonvenomous snakes primarily found in the Americas, as well as Africa, Europe, Asia, and some Pacific Islands. Boas include some of the world's largest snakes, with the green anaconda ...

(constrictor), '' Titanoboa''.

References

Podocnemididae Paleocene turtles Paleocene reptiles of South America Peligran Itaboraian Paleogene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Cerrejón Formation Prehistoric turtle genera Fossil taxa described in 2012 {{Turtle-stub