See text Megalochelys ("great turtle") is an extinct genus of tortoises that lived from the Miocene to Pleistocene.

They are noted for their giant size, the largest known for any tortoise, with a maximum carapace length of over 2 m (6.5 ft) in M. atlas.

The genus ranged from western India and Pakistan to as far east as Sulawesi and Timor in Indonesia, though the island specimens likely represent distinct species.

[1] The shell of Megalochelys is prominently domed, proportionally wide, with large openings for the limbs[2], and is relatively thin despite its size,[5] though the epiplastron (the frontmost-portion of the lower carapace) was forked and very thick.

[7] However, later in 1844, Falconer and Cautley decided to rename the species Colossochelys atlas[5] as they considered the original name "not to convey a sufficiently expressive idea of the size".