Chelydridae

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Chelydrids
Temporal range: 70.6–0 
Ma
Late Cretaceous[1] to Recent
The common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Clade: Americhelydia
Family: Chelydridae
Gray, 1831[2]
Genera
Synonyms[3]
  • Chelydrae Gray, 1831:4[2]
  • Chelydridae Swainson, 1839:113[4]
  • Chelydradae Gray, 1869:178[5]

The Chelydridae is a

.

Fossil history

Chelydropsis murchisoni fossil remains (left: juvenile; right: adult)

The Chelydridae have a long

Protochelydra zangerli from North Dakota.[6] The carapace of P. zangerli is higher-domed than that of the recent Chelydra, a trait conjectured to be associated with the coexistence of large, turtle-eating crocodilians. Another genus, Chelydropsis, contains several well-known Eurasian chelydrid species that existed from the Oligocene to the Pliocene.[7] In South America, chelydrids (C. acutirostris) only occupy the northwestern corner of the continent, reflecting their recent arrival from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange
.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Emarginachelys cretacea, Paleobiology Database
  2. ^ a b Gray, John Edward. (1831). Synopsis Reptilium; or Short Descriptions of the Species of Reptiles. Part I.—Cataphracta. Tortoises, Crocodiles, and Enaliosaurians. London: Treuttel, Wurz, and Co., 85 pp. [Published May 1831].
  3. ^ Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk, P.P., Iverson, J.B., Shaffer, H.B., Bour, R., and Rhodin, A.G.J.]. (2012). Turtles of the World, 2012 update: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 000.243–000.328, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v5.2012, "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2014-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Swainson, William. (1839). On the natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. Vol. II. In: Lardner, D. (Ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Natural History. London: Longman, 452 pp.
  5. ^ Gray, John Edward. (1869). Notes on the families and genera of tortoises (Testudinata), and on the characters afforded by the study of their skulls. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1869:165–225.
  6. ^ Danilov G. and J. F. Parham. (2008). A reassessment of some poorly known turtles from the Middle Jurassic of China, with comments on the antiquity of extant turtles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(2):306-318
  7. ^ Böhme, M. (2008). Ectothermic vertebrates (Teleostei, Allocaudata, Urodela, Anura, Testudines, Choristodera, Crocodylia, Squamata) from the Upper Oligocene of Oberleichtersbach (Northern Bavaria, Germany). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 260:161-183

Further reading

External links