Pelomedusoid side-necked turtles from late Miocene sediments in southwestern Amazonia

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3245

By

Gaffney, Eugene S.

Campbell, Kenneth E. Jr. (Kenneth Eugene), 1943-
Wood, Roger Conant

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, c1998

Notes

Caption title.

"November 5, 1998."

"Fossil turtles have been recovered from outcrops on the Río Purus, Río Acre, and Río Madre de Dios in the southwestern Amazon basin where the borders of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia converge. The fossils are from two discernible horizons, both probably of late Miocene age and separated by the Ucayali Unconformity. The older horizon is the upper part of the Contamana Group, whereas the younger horizon is Unit A of the Madre de Dios Formation. The Contamana Group has yielded specimens identifiable as Stupendemys, a very large podocnemidid reported from Venezuela and Amazonia, and a new and unnamed taxon of podocnemidid represented only by the lower jaw. It is possible that the lower jaw belongs to Stupendemys, but the absence of any associated specimens prevents this assignment. The younger Madre de Dios horizon also yields Stupendemys, demonstrating that this large turtle lived both before and after the event that gave rise to the Ucayali Unconformity. A cervical attributable to a large species of Podocnemis was found in beds identified as either Unit A or upper Contamana Group"--P. [1].

Subjects

Amazon River Region , Miocene , Paleontology , Pelomedusidae , Reptiles, Fossil , Turtles, Fossil

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3245, 1998

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 40417320