''Brontochelys'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of podocnemidid from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The only species known, ''B. gaffneyi'' was classified before in the genus '' Shweboemys'', which is known from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. ''Brontochelys'' is represented only by its

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

BMNH R.8570, a nearly complete skull, which exact locality is unknown but probably comes from the Lower Miocene sediments in the

Bugti Hills Bugti Hills are a range of hills in eastern Balochistan, Pakistan. It includes the tribal tract called Bugti country. 30 million years ago the Haplorrhinies: '' Bugtipithecus inexpectans'', '' Phileosimias kamali'' and '' Phileosimias brahuioru ...

, in

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

, Pakistan. This skull is different from its relatives like ''Shweboemys'', '' Lemurchelys'' and '' Stereogenys'' by its large, forward-faced orbits, a large frontal bone that composes most of the dorsal orbit margin and a palatal curved. The name of ''Brontochelys'' is formed by the Greek words ''bronte'', "thunder" and ''chelys'', "turtle", in reference to the large size of the skull.Gaffney, E.S.; Meylan, P.A.; Wood, R.C.; Simons, E.L.; Campos, D.A. 2011
Evolution of the side-necked turtles: the family Podocnemididae
''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 350: 1–237.

References

{{Testudines Podocnemididae Prehistoric turtle genera Extinct turtles Fossils of Pakistan