A new species of a giant tortoise from Sandelzhausen (MN5, Burdigalian/Langhian boundary, Early/Middle Miocene, South Germany)

Abstract

We describe a new species of a giant tortoise of the genus Titanochelon from the locality of Sandelzhausen in south Germany (MN5, Burdigalian/Langhian boundary, Early/Middle Miocene). The material comprises at least two different individuals, one of which is a male individual preserving large parts of the carapace and plastron and several appendicular elements. The second individual is quite fragmented, preserving parts of the bridge and the posterior rim of the carapace. The new species, Titanochelon schleichi sp. nov., is the first species of a giant tortoise named from Germany and allows reconstructing an important diversity and expansion of titanochelones in the Western Palaearctic during the earlier parts of the Neogene.