Carbonemys cofrinii is an extinct giant podocnemidid turtle known from the Middle Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin in northeastern Colombia. The formation is dated at around 60 to 57 million years ago, starting at about five million years after the KT extinction event.
Discovery
In 2005, the holotype specimen was discovered in the Cerrejón coal mine by a North Carolina State University doctoral student named Edwin Cadena. It had a shell that measured about and estimated at for complete carapace, making it one of the world's largest turtles.
Paleoecology
The jaws of Carbonemys were massive and would be powerful enough to eat crocodilians and other large reptiles, that were abundant in the first neotropical forest of the Cerrejón Formation. This turtle coexisted with the giant boid (constrictor), Titanoboa.