Testudo atlas

Taxobox
name = "Testudo atlas"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Pleistocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Testudines
subordo = Cryptodira
familia = Testudinidae
genus = "Testudo"
species = "T. atlas"
binomial = "Testudo atlas"
subdivision_ranks = Synonyms
subdivision=
* "Colossochelys atlas"

"Testudo atlas" ('Atlas turtle'), also known as "Colossochelys atlas", and originally described as Geochelone atlas (Falconer & Cautley, 1844) is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle from the Pleistocene period. During the dry glacial periods it ranged from western India and Pakistan (possibly even as far west as southern and eastern Europe) as far east as Sulawesi and Timor in Indonesia.

Although other members of the genus "Testudo" are generally small (7-35 cm long), "T. atlas" was the largest terrestrial turtle or tortoise (family "Testudinidae") that ever existed, with a shell length of about 2.1 m (7 ft), an estimated total length of 2.5 to 2.7 m (8 to 9 ft) and an approximate total height of 6 ft (1,80 m). Weight estimates vary greatly: some go as high as 3 to 4 metric tonnes (= 3000 to 4000 kilograms), but a weight of around 1 metric tonne (1000 kilograms) is probably more realistic (Paul and Leahy, 1994). The only bigger turtles were the oceanic "Archelon" and "Protostega" from the Cretaceous period. "Testudo atlas" probably looked like a giant Galápagos tortoise.

Like the modern Galápagos tortoise, "Testudo atlas"'s weight was supported by four elephantine feet. Since most members of the "Testudo" genus are herbivores, paleontologists presume "T. atlas" had the same diet. When a predator threatened it, "T. atlas" could probably retract its limbs and head into its shell, just like its modern relatives.

References

Paul, G.S., and Leahy, G.D. (1994). Terramegathermy in the time of the titans: Restoring the metabolics of colossal dinosaurs. Paleontol. Soc. Spec. Publ. 7, 177-198

Bakker, Robert. The Dinosaur Heresies. 1. New York: Zebra, 1996.