Although tortoises (Testudinidae) are a familiar clade of reptiles, with a body fossil
record extending to at least the Eocene, hitherto no tortoise ichnosites have been
described. Here, a number of sites attributed to tortoise trackmakers are identified
within Pleistocene aeolianites on South Africa's Cape south coast. These date from
late Marine Isotope Stage 6 to Marine Isotope Stage 4. The findings indicate large
trackmakers, with evidence of a trackmaker length of more than a meter-substantially
longer than the largest extant tortoises in southern Africa. This suggests either
the presence of an extinct very large tortoise species, or that Pleistocene leopard
tortoises in the region were larger than their descendants. Variations in substrate
properties are responsible for a variety of track and trace forms. A mismatch exists
between the reported ichnological evidence for large tortoises, and the regional archaeological
and body fossil records, which almost exclusively comprise smaller tortoises. The
findings illustrate the potential of ichnology to complement and augment the paleontological
and archaeological records.
