Turtle taxa first appeared in Malesia or insular Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene

11 Aug 2026

Situated between the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, Malesia (insular Southeast Asia)—comprising the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Timor-Leste—is a biogeographical province marked by distinct areas of endemism. Uncovering the connections between these regions is the subject of significant ongoing research.

Although the region’s Quaternary mammalian fauna, including hominins, has been widely investigated, reptile distribution across Malesia remains largely unexplored, despite reptiles forming a major component of both living and fossil assemblages. Scholars have focused primarily on giant tortoises, leaving freshwater turtles only partially described. With at least 23 modern non-marine turtle species in the region, there is a clear need to fully investigate their biogeographic patterns through the lens of the fossil record.

Our study explores the origins of turtles of Malesia. It seeks to shed new light on the group’s regional evolution and biogeography by analyzing the fossil turtle record in Malesia. Using a review of published literature, reassessment of previously described data, and description of new fossil material from the Philippines, molecular data supplemented the scarce fossil record of turtles in the region. The research enabled the establishment of the earliest dates for the appearance of turtle taxa in Malesia during the Pleistocene, with Cuora amboinensis arriving in the Philippines on or before the earliest Middle Pleistocene.

In the archaeological site in Rizal, Kalinga, which delivered the earliest indirect evidence for early human presence in the Philippines in the form of cutmarked megafaunal remains with associated stone tools dated at 709,000 years old, fossils of a freshwater geomydid species initially reported as a tortoise could represent the oldest occurrence of the Cuora amboinensis species complex, and is the oldest evidence of a freshwater turtle in the country.

Authors: Julien Claude (Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier | Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University), Haiyan Tong (Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University), Alexandra van der Geer (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands), Pierre-Olivier Antoine (Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier), Marian Reyes (Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines | School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman), John de Vos (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands), and Thomas Ingicco (UMR 7194-Histoire naturelle de l’Homme préhistorique-CNRS-Mnhn-UPVD, Paris, France)

Read the full paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0753396924000041

Image by Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee), CC BY-SA 3.0

Turtle taxa first appeared in Malesia or insular Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene

Situated between the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, Malesia (insular Southeast Asia)—comprising the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Timor-Leste—is a biogeographical province marked by distinct areas of endemism. Uncovering the connections between these regions is the subject of significant ongoing research.

Although the region’s Quaternary mammalian fauna, including hominins, has been widely investigated, reptile distribution across Malesia remains largely unexplored, despite reptiles forming a major component of both living and fossil assemblages. Scholars have focused primarily on giant tortoises, leaving freshwater turtles only partially described. With at least 23 modern non-marine turtle species in the region, there is a clear need to fully investigate their biogeographic patterns through the lens of the fossil record.

Our study explores the origins of turtles of Malesia. It seeks to shed new light on the group’s regional evolution and biogeography by analyzing the fossil turtle record in Malesia. Using a review of published literature, reassessment of previously described data, and description of new fossil material from the Philippines, molecular data supplemented the scarce fossil record of turtles in the region. The research enabled the establishment of the earliest dates for the appearance of turtle taxa in Malesia during the Pleistocene, with Cuora amboinensis arriving in the Philippines on or before the earliest Middle Pleistocene.

In the archaeological site in Rizal, Kalinga, which delivered the earliest indirect evidence for early human presence in the Philippines in the form of cutmarked megafaunal remains with associated stone tools dated at 709,000 years old, fossils of a freshwater geomydid species initially reported as a tortoise could represent the oldest occurrence of the Cuora amboinensis species complex, and is the oldest evidence of a freshwater turtle in the country.

Authors: Julien Claude (Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier | Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University), Haiyan Tong (Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University), Alexandra van der Geer (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands), Pierre-Olivier Antoine (Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier), Marian Reyes (Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines | School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman), John de Vos (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands), and Thomas Ingicco (UMR 7194-Histoire naturelle de l’Homme préhistorique-CNRS-Mnhn-UPVD, Paris, France)

Read the full paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0753396924000041

Image by Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee), CC BY-SA 3.0