ERYMNOCHELYINAE Broin, 1988

Pérez-García, Adán, Broin, France de Lapparent de & Murelaga, Xabier, 2017, The Erymnochelys group of turtles (Pleurodira, Podocnemididae) in the Eocene of Europe: New taxa and paleobiogeographical implications, Palaeontologia Electronica 15 (2), pp. 1-28 : 7

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.26879/687

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1D985176-5AD4-45FF-8BD7-C4AD17C7DE52

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03814F39-FFA2-4A3B-FF04-E624F1E586B5

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

ERYMNOCHELYINAE Broin, 1988
status

 

Subfamily ERYMNOCHELYINAE Broin, 1988

ERYMNOCHELYS GROUP sensu Pérez-García and Lapparent de Broin, 2015

Genus Eocenochelus gen. nov.

Figures 3-8 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 View FIGURE 5 View FIGURE 6 View FIGURE 7 View FIGURE 8

zoobank.org/ EC68A3B2-1722-4B33-B2F7-D6ED3011287B

1965 Podocnemys [sic]; Taugourdeau, p. 165.

1977 Erymnochelys ; Broin, p. 89.

2008 ‘aff. Erymnochelys ’; Lapparent de Broin in Merle, p. 154, pl. 9, figure 2.

2015 ‘aff. Erymnochelys ’; Pérez-García and Lapparent de Broin, p. 915.

Type species. Erymnochelys eremberti Broin, 1977

Other included species. Eocenochelus lacombianus sp. nov.; Eocenochelus farresi sp. nov.

Etymology. This generic name refers to the Eocene, the Epoch in which this taxon lived, and chelus (Greek), turtle.

Distribution. Eocene (middle Ypresian to Priabonian) of Europe.

Diagnosis. Member of the Erymnochelys group with the following autapomorphies: Wide interorbital space, its minimum width being greater than the maximum length of the orbits; suborbital space markedly higher than the orbits; absence of a cheek emargination by the wide insertion of the jugal between the maxilla and the quadratojugal; medial concavity of the interparietal scute anterior margin; absence of overlap of the interparietal on the frontals; very robust mandible, with substraight labial margins, from the coronoid process to the fossa premaxillaris; high and robust dentary, wide in ventral view, without lateral border concavity; long mandibular symphysis, about 40% of the total length of the lower jaw, reaching the level of the foramen intermandibularis medius; and dorsal surface of the posterior border of the mandibular symphysis not vertical but constituting a slope of about 45º. It is distinguished from the other representatives of the Erymnochelys group by an exclusive combination of cranial characters: Short anterior snout, less than half of the length of the orbits (shared with T. pattersoni ); wider than long nares (shared with ‘Podocnemis’ fajumensis and Erymnochelys madagascariensis ); absence of premaxillary beak (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis); absence of an interorbital longitudinal depression (shared with Turkanemys pattersoni , Er. madagascariensis and some specimens of ‘P.’ fajumensis); prefrontals shorter than frontals (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis); transverse to slightly sinuous prefrontal-frontal contact, lacking a medial protusion (shared with T. pattersoni and Er. madagascariensis ). It is also distinguished from the other representatives of the Erymnochelys group by an exclusive combination of shell characters: Absence of a partial or complete medial keel on the carapace (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis, ‘Podocnemis’ aegyptiaca, Er. madagascariensis and most specimens of T. pattersoni ); first vertebral heptagonal, with short latero-anterior margins, and as wide or wider than the nuchal plate (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis, ‘Podocnemis’ aegyptiaca, T. pattersoni and Er. madagascariensis ); second vertebral approximately as wide as the third, both scutes lacking wide lateral protrusions anterior to the limit between the pleural sulci (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis, T. pattersoni , Kenyemys williamsi and Er. madagascariensis ); first pair of marginals overlapping no more than half of the length of the lateral nuchal margins (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis, ‘P.’ aegyptiaca, T. pattersoni and Er. madagascariensis ); posterior plastral lobe narrower than the anterior (shared with T. pattersoni and Er. madagascariensis ); absence of clear gular protrusions with parallel borders (shared with ‘P.’ aegyptiaca, T. pattersoni , Er. madagascariensis and some specimens of ‘P.’ fajumensis); relatively long intergular scute, reaching the anterior margin of the entoplastron or overlying its most anterior region (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis, ‘P.’ aegyptiaca, T. pattersoni and some Er. madagascariensis ); moderate length of the anal scutes, being shorter than two times the femoral length on the lateral borders of the xiphiplastra (shared with ‘P.’ fajumensis and ‘P.’ aegyptiaca); very short dorsal expansion of the plastral scute borders (shared with ‘P.’ aegyptiaca, T. pattersoni , K. williamsi and Er. madagascariensis ).

Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF