Niolamia

Extinct genus of turtles

Niolamia is an extinct genus of South American meiolaniid turtle with a long and complex history. Like its relatives, Niolamia was a robust and heavily armored terrestrial turtle with large, horn like scales covering its head and a tail encased by rings of bone. This heavily armored build may have served the animal during intraspecific combat during courtship, though such encounters likely did not involve the horns and frill, which are thought to serve more of a display function. Scans of the skull reveal that Niolamia likely had a great sense of smell but only low frequency hearing, indicating that these animals communicated more through chemical signals and smells than through sound.

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