Toxochelys Explained

Toxochelys is an extinct genus of marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous period. It is the most commonly found fossilized turtle species in the Smoky Hill Chalk, in western Kansas.[1]

Description

Toxochelys had carapace about 90cm (40inches) in length.[2] Two species in the genus are recognized, Toxochelys latiremis and Toxochelys moorevillensis.[3] Phylogenetic analysis shows that Toxochelys belong to an extinct lineage of turtles transitional between modern sea turtles and other turtles.[4]

Toxochelys bauri Williston, 1905, based on the skeleton YPM 1786, is a synonym of Ctenochelys stenoporus.[5]

Phylogeny

Toxochelys latiremis in a cladogram from the analysis of Gentry et al., 2019:[6]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Turtles.html www.oceansofkansas.com
  2. Hirayama . Ren . 1994 . Phylogenetic systematics of chelonioid sea turtles . Island Arc . 3 . 4 . 270–284 . 10.1111/j.1440-1738.1994.tb00116.x . 1038-4871.
  3. Nicholls, E.L. 1988. New material of Toxochelys latiremis Cope, and a revision of the genus Toxochelys (Testudines, Chelonoidea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 8(2):181–187.
  4. Kear BP, Lee MS . A primitive protostegid from Australia and early sea turtle evolution . Biol. Lett. . 2 . 1 . 116–9 . March 2006 . 17148342 . 1617175 . 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0406 .
  5. R. Zangerl. 1953. The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama. Part IV. The turtles of the family Toxochelyidae. Fieldiana: Geology Memoirs 3(4):145–277.
  6. Andrew D. Gentry . Jun A. Ebersole . Caitlin R. Kiernan . 2019 . Asmodochelys parhami, a new fossil marine turtle from the Campanian Demopolis Chalk and the stratigraphic congruence of competing marine turtle phylogenies . Royal Society Open Science . 6 . 12 . Article ID 191950 . 10.1098/rsos.191950 . 31903219 . 6936288 . 2019RSOS....691950G .