NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Red-headed Amazon Side-necked Turtle
Podocnemis erythrocephala (Spix, 1824)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Two Julia butterflies drinking tears from turtles in Ecuador.
amalavida.tv (Dirección de Información Turística del Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador) · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The red-headed Amazon side-necked turtle, red-headed river turtle or red-headed sideneck (Podocnemis erythrocephala) is a species of turtle in the family Podocnemididae. It is found in the Amazon basin in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Wikipedia contributors, Red-headed Amazon River turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T13:16:13.135364+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Podocnemis erythrocephala (Spix, 1824)
- Name authority
- (Spix, 1824)
- Common name
- Red-headed Amazon Side-necked Turtle
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- Family
- Podocnemididae
- Genus
- Podocnemis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
- suborderPleurodira Cope, 1864
- superfamilyPelomedusoidea Cope, 1868
- familyPodocnemididae
- genusPodocnemis
- speciesPodocnemis erythrocephala (Spix, 1824)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Podocnemis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Magdalena River TurtlePodocnemis lewyana Duméril, 1852 | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amazon River TurtlePodocnemis sextuberculata Cornalia, 1849 | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arrau River TurtlePodocnemis expansa (Schweigger, 1812) | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yellow-spotted Amazon River TurtlePodocnemis unifilis Troschel, 1848 | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Savanna Side-necked TurtlePodocnemis vogli Müller, 1935 | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Emys bitentaculata Cuvier ex Gray, 1830 Cuvier ex Gray, 1830 | synonym |
| Emys erythrocephala Spix, 1824 Spix, 1824 | synonym |
| Podocnemis coutinhii Göldi, 1886 Göldi, 1886 | synonym |
| Emys cayennensis Schweigger, 1812 Schweigger, 1812 | ambiguous synonym |
| Podocnemis agassizii Coutinho ex Göldi, 1886 Coutinho ex Göldi, 1886 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Podocnemis&species=erythrocephala Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4KQG7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.