NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle
Podocnemis unifilis Troschel, 1848
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.
Podocnemis unifilis (yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle) in Zoo Krefeld
FakirNL · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), also known commonly as the yellow-headed sideneck turtle and the yellow-spotted river turtle, and locally as the taricaya, is one of the largest South American river turtles.
Podocnemis unifilis is a type of side-necked turtles, so called because they do not pull their heads directly into their shells, but rather bend their necks sideways to tuck their heads under the rim of their shells. Side-neck turtles are classified as members of the suborder Pleurodira.
Wikipedia contributors, Yellow-spotted river turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T13:13:49.215765+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Podocnemis unifilis Troschel, 1848
- Name authority
- Troschel, 1848
- Common name
- Yellow-spotted Amazon River 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 unifilis Troschel, 1848
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Red-headed Amazon Side-necked TurtlePodocnemis erythrocephala (Spix, 1824) | PodocnemididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| 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 |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Testudo terekay Humboldt, 1819 Humboldt, 1819 | synonym |
| Emys cayennensis Schweigger, 1812 Schweigger, 1812 | ambiguous synonym |
| Chelys | 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=unifilis 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:4KQGF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.