Named By: | Falconer & Cautley in 1844 |
Time Period: | Miocene-Pleistocene |
Location: | India, Pakistan, Thailand - possibly further afield across Asia |
Size: | Around 2.5 to 2.7 meters long |
Diet: | Herbivore |
Fossil(s): | Many specimens |
Classification: | | Chordata | Reptilia | Testudines | Cryptodira | Testudinidae | Testudininae | |
Also known as: | | Geochelone atlas | Testudo atlas | Megalochelys sivalensis | |
Megalochelys is an extinct genus of cryptodiran turtle which lived from the Miocene to Pleistocene, across Asia and possibly East Europe.
This fossil genus is the original and valid name for what has often been called Colossochelys. It contains two named species with several unnamed taxa.
Megalochelys atlas Falconer and Cautley, 1844
Megalochelys cautleyi Lydekker, 1889