Araripemydidae is a family of freshwater aquatic

turtle 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 Crypt ...

s belonging to the order

Pleurodira The Pleurodira are one of the two living suborders of turtles, the other being the Cryptodira. The division between these two suborders represents a very deep evolutionary divide between two very different types of turtles. The physical differ ...

(side-necked turtles), known from the Early Cretaceous of South America and Africa. The family contains two recognised

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genera, ''

Araripemys ''Araripemys'' is an extinct marine turtle genus from 112 to 109 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous Crato and Romualdo Formations of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, ...

'' and '' Taquetochelys'', from the Santana Group of Brazil and the Elrhaz Formation of Niger, respectively, which date to the

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

stages of the Early Cretaceous. They are consider to be the most basal lineage within the

Pelomedusoides The Pleurodira are one of the two living suborders of turtles, the other being the Cryptodira. The division between these two suborders represents a very deep evolutionary divide between two very different types of turtles. The physical differenc ...

. They are thought to have been specialised suction feeders. ''Laganemys'' was named in 2013 but was later determined to be synonymous with ''Taquetochelys.''

References

Late Cretaceous first appearances Paleocene extinctions Prehistoric turtles of South America Pleurodira † {{paleo-turtle-stub