''Puppigerus'' 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 ...

from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. It is known from finds in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, and Uzbekistan.

Taxonomy

''Puppigerus'' was described by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

in 1870. As of 1997, ''P. camperi'' and ''P. crassicostata'' were considered the two valid species. ''P. camperi'' was later thought to be the sole species of the genus until the 2005 discovery of ''P. nessovi'' from Uzbekistan.

Description

Fossils show that ''Puppigerus'' was around long, and its weight has been estimated as being somewhere around . Although cheloniids such as ''Puppigerus'' first appeared during the Cretaceous, several traits of this genus give it more of a resemblance to modern cheloniids: its "huge" eyes pointed sideways rather than upward, unlike more primitive cheloniids, and its shell was completely

ossified Ossification (also called osteogenesis or bone mineralization) in bone remodeling is the process of laying down new bone material by cells named osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. There are two processes resulting in t ...

. The pygal (rearmost plate of the upper shell) also lacked the notch seen in earlier cheloniids. It was a

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

, living on marine vegetation, and one of the "best-adapted" prehistoric turtles; its "unusually large" eyes helped it gather as much light as possible, and its specialized jaw structure kept it from accidentally breathing in water. Its front legs were flipper-like, but its hind legs were not developed in this manner, suggesting it would have spent considerable time on dry land, where females would have laid their eggs.

Palaeoecology

''Puppigerus camperi'' is known from the

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...

and Bracklesham Beds of England, as well as the Sables de Bruxelles and the Sables de Wemmel of Belgium. ''P. nessovi'' is known from the Dzheroi 2 locality of Uzbekistan. A ''Puppigerus'' species is also known from the Fur Formation of Denmark.

References

{{Testudines Cenozoic turtles of North America Eocene reptiles of Europe Cheloniidae Eocene reptiles Fossil taxa described in 1870 Eocene reptiles of Asia Prehistoric turtle genera Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope Extinct turtles Fur Formation