Diverse Turtle Fauna from the Late Eocene of Georgia Including the Oldest Records of Aquatic Testudinoids in Southeastern North America

The Late Eocene (Chadronian NALMA) Hardie Mine local fauna of the Clinchfield Formation in Wilkinson County, Georgia, preserves the most diverse turtle fauna in the Eocene of southeastern North America. This fauna includes at least five taxa including a dermochelyid, a cheloniid, a trionychid, a testudinoid, and an unidentified cryptodire. Chelonioids and trionychids are the most common turtles in this near-shore marine deposit. The aquatic testudinoids from the Hardie Mine site represent the oldest records from southeastern North America, a region that exhibits a high diversity of extant aquatic testudinoids.