''Inaechelys'' is a potentially

dubious Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty, ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

bothremydid Bothremydidae is an extinct family of side-necked turtles (Pleurodira) known from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. They are closely related to Podocnemididae, and are amongst the most widely distributed pleurodire groups, with their fossils having be ...

pleurodiran 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 differen ...

turtle that was discovered in the

Maria Farinha Formation The Maria Farinha Formation is a geological formation of the Parnaíba Basin in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil whose strata date back to the Danian stage of the Paleocene, or Tiupampan in the SALMA classification. The formation comprising limest ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The genus consists solely of

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''I. pernambucensis''.A. R. de Araujo Carvalho, A. M. Ghilardi, and A. M. Franca Barreto. 2016 "A new side-neck turtle (Pelomedusoides: Bothremydidae) from the Early Paleocene (Danian) Maria Farinha Formation, Paraíba Basin, Brazil." Zootaxa 4126(4):491-513

Discovery

''Inaechelys'' was discovered in the Poty Cement Quarry, in

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

, Brazil in 2005, by a team from the

Federal University of Pernambuco Federal University of Pernambuco ( pt, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE) is a public university in Recife, Brazil, established in 1946. UFPE has 70 undergraduate courses and 175 postgraduate courses. , UFPE had 35,000 students and 2,000 ...

Description

The holotype consists of a carapace, which is fragmented but almost complete. The mesoplastron is not preserved, though its outline is still visible. The anal notch is small, semicircular and wider than it is deep.

Taxonomy

Pedro Romano placed the species in the genus ''

Rosasia ''Rosasia'' is an extinct genus of bothremydid pleurodiran turtle that was discovered in the Argilas de Aveiro Formation of Portugal. The genus consists of a single species, ''R. soutoi'', named after Alberto Souto. Description ''Rosasia'' i ...

'' in 2016.Romano, Pedro S.R., 2016, "The tale of the headless turtle", ''Zootaxa'' 4200(2): 327-330

References

Bothremydidae Prehistoric turtle genera Paleocene turtles Danian life Tiupampan Paleogene reptiles of South America Paleogene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Fossil taxa described in 2016 Monotypic turtle genera {{paleo-turtle-stub