The late Quaternary is characterized by the extinction of many terrestrial megafauna, which
included tortoises (Family: Testudinidae). However, limited information is available on how …

Testudinidae (tortoises) is an extant clade of terrestrial turtles of worldwide distribution and
with a rich fossil record that provides an exceptional context for studying their evolutionary …

Abstract Aim A major Late Quaternary vertebrate extinction event affected mostly large‐
bodied 'megafauna'. This is well documented in both mammals and birds, but evidence of a …

Researchers often interpret the presence of tortoises in Pleistocene assemblages as
evidence of an interglacial age, based on an assumption that these fossils indicate thermic …

Extant chelonians (turtles and tortoises) span almost four orders of magnitude of body size,
including the startling examples of gigantism seen in the tortoises of the Galapagos and …

Body size and shape play fundamental roles in organismal function and it is expected that
animals may possess body proportions that are well-suited to their ecological niche …

Aim Examining the biogeography of body size is crucial for understanding how animal
communities are assembled and maintained. In tetrapods, body size varies predictably with …

The relative body masses of predators and their prey strongly affect the predators' ecology.
An accurate estimate of the mass of an extinct predator is therefore key to revealing its …

Larger Taxa. For the majority of aquatic and terrestrial species, maximum body size is
smaller than predicted by metabolic scaling, with numerous small-bodied taxa occurring in …

The island rule is the phenomenon of the miniaturization of large animals and the gigantism
of small animals on islands, with mammals providing the classic case studies. Several …