Rhinochelys Explained

Rhinochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtles belonging to the family Protostegidae.

Fossil records

Fossils of Rhinochelys have been found in Late Albian to middle Cenomanian-age marine deposits of southern England, Lebanon, and France.^[1]

Species

Three species of Rhinochelys are recognized:^{[2] [3]}

• Rhinochelys pulchriceps (Owen, 1851)
• Rhinochelys amaberti Moret, 1935
• Rhinochelys nammourensis Tong, Hirayama, Makhoul & Escuillie, 2006^[4]

Rhinochelys cantabrigiensis and R. elegans, both named by Richard Lydekker in 1889, are recovered by Scavezzoni and Fischer (2018) as closer to Desmatochelys than to Rhinochelys and possibly are not congeneric with Rhinochelys.^[2]

Bibliography

• Hirayama, R., 1997: Distribution and diversity of Cretaceous chelonioids. 225–243. in Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L., (eds.), 1997: Ancient marine reptiles. Academic Press, San Diego, London, Boston, New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, 1997, pp. xlvi - 501
• Moody, R. T. J., 1997: The paleogeography of marine and coastal turtles of the North Atlantic and Trans-Saharan regions. 259–278 in Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L., (eds.) 1997: Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, San Diego, London, Boston, New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, 1997, xlvi-501

Notes and References

1. Evers . Serjoscha W. . Barrett . Paul M. . Benson . Roger B. J. . 2019-05-01 . Anatomy ofRhinochelys pulchriceps(Protostegidae) and marine adaptation during the early evolution of chelonioids . PeerJ . 7 . e6811 . 10.7717/peerj.6811 . 2167-8359 . free . 10141/622563 . free .
2. I.. Scavezzoni. V.. Fischer. 2018. Rhinochelys amaberti Moret (1935), a Protostegid Turtle from the Early Cretaceous of France. PeerJ. 10. 6. e4594. 10.7717/peerj.4594. 5898427. 29666758 . free .
3. Collins JI. 1970. The chelonian Rhinochelys Seeley from the Upper Cretaceous of England and France. Palaeontology 13(3):355-378
4. Haiyan Tong, Hirayama R., Makhoul, E. & Escuillie F. 2006. Rhinochelys (Chelonioidea : Protostegidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Nammoura, Lebanon. Atti della società italiana di scienze naturali e del museo civico di storia naturale di Milano 147 (1) : 113 – 138