Carbonemys cofrinii is an extinct podocnemidid turtle known from the Middle Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin in northeastern Colombia. The formation is dated at around 60 to 58 million years ago, starting at about five million years after the KT extinction event.[1]

Discovery [ edit ]

In 2005, the holotype specimen was discovered in the Cerrejón coal mine by a North Carolina State University doctoral student named Edwin Cadena. It had a shell that measured about 1.72 metres (5 ft 8 in), making it one of the world's largest turtles.[2][3]

The jaws of Carbonemys were massive and would be powerful enough to eat crocodylians, that were abundant in the first neotropical forest of the Cerrejón Formation.[4] This turtle coexisted with the giant boid, Titanoboa.

In popular culture [ edit ]

Carbonemys appears in the survival game Ark: Survival Evolved.[5]

References [ edit ]



