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Chubutemys
''Chubutemys'' was an extinct genus of meiolaniform turtle. It lived during the Early Cretaceous of Argentina, around the Albian-Aptian border, within the Puesto La Paloma Member of the Cerro Barcino Formation. It is known from most of the skeleton and carapace, and part of the skull. Description A skeleton, including most of the skull, is known for ''Chubutemys''. As the skull was found in the same quarry as the postcranial skeleton, it was decided to be likely to be from the same individual. The shell of the specimen is remarkably thin. Classification ''Chubutemys'' is a turtle that is relatively easy to classify. Among related genera, Sterli ''et al.'' found '' Patagoniaemys'' to be the most unstable genus. The cladogram below shows the relationships of ''Chubutemys'', and three possible placements of ''Patagoniaemys'': Paleoecology ''Chubutemys'' is from the Cerro Barcino Formation. A locality of many turtles, nicknamed "Turtle Town", located within the Puesto La Paloma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiolaniidae
Meiolaniidae is an extinct family of large, probably herbivorous stem group, stem-group turtles with heavily armored heads and tail club, clubbed tails known from South America and Australasia. Though once believed to be cryptodires, they are not closely related to any living species of turtle, and lie outside crown group Turtle, Testudines, having diverged from them around or prior to the Middle Jurassic. They are best known from the last surviving genus, ''Meiolania'', which lived in Australia from the Miocene until the Pleistocene, and insular species that lived on Lord Howe Island and New Caledonia during the Pleistocene and possibly the Holocene for the latter. Meiolaniids are part of the broader grouping of Meiolaniformes, which contains more primitive turtles species lacking the distinctive morphology of meiolaniids, known from the Early Cretaceous-Paleocene of South America and Australia. Meiolaniidae includes a total of five different genera, with ''Niolamia'' and ''Gaffn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiolaniformes
Meiolaniformes is an extinct clade of stem-group turtles, defined as all taxa more closely related to ''Meiolania'' than to Cryptodira and Pleurodira. It is known from the Early Cretaceous to the Holocene of Australia, Oceania and South America. Some Eurasian taxa have been suggested to be part of the group, but this is disputed. The oldest member of Meiolaniformes is Australian Early Cretaceous '' Otwayemys''. Taxonomy The clade as currently defined contains the following taxa: * †''Chubutemys'' Gaffney et al. 2007 - Aptian, Cerro Barcino Formation, Argentina * †'' Otwayemys'' Gaffney et al. 1998 - Aptian, Eumeralla Formation, Australia * †'' Patagoniaemys'' Sterli and de la Fuente 2011 Upper Campanian-Lower Maastrichtian, La Colonia Formation, Argentina * †'' Peligrochelys'' Sterli and de la Fuente 2011 Danian, Salamanca Formation, Argentina * †'' Trapalcochelys'' Sterli et al. 2013 Upper Campanian, Allen Formation, Argentina * †Meiolaniidae Lydekker 1887, Eocen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninjemys Oweni
''Ninjemys oweni'' is an extinct large meiolaniid stem-turtle from Pleistocene Queensland and possibly New South Wales (Australia). It overall resembled its relative, ''Meiolania'', save that the largest pair of horns on its head stuck out to the sides, rather than point backwards, the larger scales at the back of its skull and the tail club which is made up of only two tail rings rather than four. With a shell length of approximately it is a large turtle and among the largest meiolaniids. ''Ninjemys'' is primarily known from a well preserved skull and associated tail armor, which were initially thought to have belonged to the giant monitor lizard Megalania (''Varanus priscus''). History and naming The remains of ''Ninjemys'' were found at the King's Creek locality in Darling Downs, Queensland, in 1879 by G. F. Bennett, an Australian collector. The King's Creek deposit is believed to be of Pleistocene age, though the precise dating is uncertain. Recognizing the fossil skull as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niolamia Argentina
''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. ''Niolamia'' is one of only two named meiolaniid turtles from South America, the other being '' Gaffneylania''. Given that this family is primarily distributed throughout the Neogene and Quaternary of Australasia, this makes ''Niolamia'' an important piece in the evolutionary history a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerro Barcino Formation
The Cerro Barcino Formation (also known as the Gorro Frigio Formation) is a geological Formation (geology), formation in South America whose strata span the Early Cretaceous to the earliest Late Cretaceous. The top age for the formation has been estimated to be Cenomanian. Earlier estimates placed the formation until the Campanian. The formation was deposited in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, a rift basin that started forming in the earliest Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The Cerro Barcino Formation is the second-youngest unit of the Chubut Group, which also includes the older Los Adobes Formation. Both formations cover a vast area in Chubut Province, Argentina. The two formations are distinguished by geological features suggesting a distinct change in climate, from a wetter, flood plain environment in the Los Adobes to a much more arid, desert-like environment in the Cerro Barcino.Rauhut et al., 2003 The Cerro Barcino ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proganochelys Quenstedti
''Proganochelys'' is a genus of extinct, primitive stem-turtle. ''Proganochelys'' was named by Georg Baur in 1887 as the oldest turtle in existence at the time. The name ''Proganochelys'' comes from the Greek word ''ganos'' meaning 'brightness', combined with prefix ''pro'', 'before', and Greek base ''chelys'' meaning 'turtle'. ''Proganochelys'' is believed to have been around 1 meter in size and herbivorous in nature. ''Proganochelys'' had been known as the most primitive stem-turtle for over a century, until the novel discovery of ''Odontochelys'' in 2008. ''Odontochelys'' and ''Proganochelys'' share unique primitive features that are not found in ''Casichelydia'', such as tooth-like structures on the pterygoid and vomer and a plate-like coracoid. ''Proganochelys quenstedtii'' is the only known species of this genus and is among the oldest known stem-turtle species with a complete shell discovered to date, known from fossils found in Germany and Switzerland in strata from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kallokibotion Bajazidi
''Kallokibotion'' is an extinct genus of stem-turtle from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian-Maastrichtian, 86–66 million years ago), known from fossils found in Romania. One species is known, ''Kallokibotion bajazidi'', which was named by Franz Nopcsa after his lover Bajazid Doda. It literally means beautiful box of Bajazid'''; Nopcsa chose the name because, in the words of British palaeontologist Gareth Dyke, "the shape of the shell reminded him of Bajazid's arse". A second undescribed species is known from the Santonian of Hungary. Turtles similar to ''Kallokibotion'' were reported from the Paleocene of France and the Lower Maastrichtian of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, but these similarities were dismissed later. Description ''Kallokibotion'' reached in carapace length. There are jagged ornaments on its shell. Taxonomy A fossil of this turtle was mistakenly described as a pterosaur of the genus ''Thalassodromeus'' in 2014. In 1992, it was identified as a basal cryptodire, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Testudines
Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtles), which differ in the way the head retracts. There are 360 living and recently extinct species of turtles, including land-dwelling tortoises and freshwater terrapins. They are found on most continents, some islands and, in the case of sea turtles, much of the ocean. Like other Amniote, amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) they breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water. Turtle shells are made mostly of bone; the upper part is the domed Turtle shell#Carapace, carapace, while the underside is the flatter plastron or belly-plate. Its outer surface is covered in scale (anatomy), scales made of keratin, the material of hair, horns, and claws. The carapace bones deve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
