''Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki'' is an extinct podocnemid turtle which existed in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

during the

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

period; the Middle to Late Paleocene epoch.

Etymology

Fossils of the genus have been found in the

Cerrejón Formation The Cerrejón Formation is a geologic formation in Colombia dating back to the Middle-Late Paleocene. It is found in the El Cerrejón sub-basin of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin of La Guajira and Cesar. The formation consists of bituminous coal field ...

of La Guajira, from which it takes its genus name; "turtle from Cerrejón". The species epithet refers to the

Wayuu language Wayuu ( guc, Wayuunaiki ), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula. There are 200,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela and 120 ...

, called "Wayuunaiki" in its own language, of the Wayuu people, inhabiting the La Guajira desert.

References

Podocnemididae Prehistoric turtle genera Paleocene turtles Paleocene reptiles of South America Peligran Itaboraian Paleogene Colombia Fossils of Colombia Fossil taxa described in 2010 Wayuu language {{Turtle-stub