''Corsochelys'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

that lived in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

). Zangerl (1960) named the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

(and currently only species; ''C. haliniches''), based upon remains found in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

within the Mooreville Chalk Formation (the lower part of the Selma Group).Hiryana R. 1997. Distribution and diversity of Cretaceous chelonioids. In: ''Ancient Marine Reptiles'' (eds.) Callaway JM, Nicholls EL. Academic Press. pp. 225-241.

Description

''Corsochelys'' is a basal dermochelyid. As with other basal chelonioids (such as '' Santanachelys'' and '' Toxochelys''), ''Corsochelys'' possesses a large foramen interorbitale with a narrow processus inferior parietalis, which indicates that the genus possessed salt-excreting lachrymal glands.Hiryana R. 1998. Oldest known sea turtle. ''Nature'' 392:705-708.
Retrieved on June 20th, 2008. In addition to its similarly to these genera, ''Corsochelys'' retains a carapace with minimally reduced coastal plates. Like the larger ''

Archelon ''Archelon'' is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring from head to tail and in body mass. It is known only from the Pierre Shale and ...

'', ''Corsochelys'' had channels penetrating the subphyseal plate from bone into the cartilage above,Snover ML, Rhodin AGL. 2007. Comparative ontogenetic and phylogenetic aspects of chelonian chondro-osseous growth and skeletochronology. In: Wyneken J, Godfrey M, Mels V. (eds.). ''The biology of turtles''. USA: CRC Press pp. 17-43.
Retrieved on June 20th, 2008. much like the

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

leatherback turtle. This means that ''Corsochelys'' would have reached their large size quickly through fast skeletal growth, as with the leatherback. Recently, a dermochelyid that closely resembles ''Corsochelys'' was found in the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

deposits of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

.Tong H, Hirayama R. 2004. First Cretaceous dermochelyid turtle from Africa. ''Revue de Paléobiologie, Genève'' 9: 55-59.
Retrieved on June 20th, 2008.

References

External links

''Corsochelys''
in the Paleobiology Database {{Dermochelyidae Dermochelyidae Late Cretaceous turtles of North America Prehistoric turtle genera Mooreville Chalk Extinct turtles Monotypic prehistoric reptile genera

Description

References

Suggested further reading

External links