Megafaunal meiolaniid horned turtles survived until early human settlement in Vanuatu, Southwest Pacific

2010/08/16 by Arthur White, Trevor H. Worthy, Stuart Hawkins +2 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Marine animal studies overview #Megafauna #Midden #Pleistocene #Archaeology #Watercraft #Geography #Holocene #Paleontology #Geology #Oceanography

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.1005780107

openalex publication_date 2010/08/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Meiolaniid or horned turtles are members of the extinct Pleistocene megafauna of Australia and the southwest Pacific. The timing and causes of their extinction have remained elusive. Here we report the remains of meiolaniid turtles from cemetery and midden layers dating 3,100/3,000 calibrated years before present to approximately 2,900/2,800 calibrated years before present in the Teouma Lapita archaeological site on Efate in Vanuatu. The remains are mainly leg bones; shell fragments are scant and there are no cranial or caudal elements, attesting to off-site butchering of the turtles. The new taxon differs markedly from other named insular terrestrial horned turtles. It is the only member of the family demonstrated to have survived into the Holocene and the first known to have become extinct after encountering humans.

Citations

• Vertebrate palaeontology of Australasia
• New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago

Cited by

• Great American Interchange [wikipedia]

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