Side-necked turtle lower jaws (Podocnemididae, Bothremydidae) from the late Cretaceous Maevarano Formation of Madagascar

Title Variants

Alternative: Sidenecked turtle lower jaws

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3397

By

Gaffney, Eugene S.

Forster, Catherine A.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY American Museum of Natural History c2003

Notes

Title from caption.

"March 27, 2003."

"Two lower jaws from the upper part (early Maastrichtian) of the late Cretaceous Maevarano Formation in the Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar, are identified as belonging to side-necked turtles (Pleurodira). A nearly complete lower jaw is identified as cf. Erymnochelys because of its close resemblance to the living Malagasy Erymnochelys madagascariensis. Both uniquely possess the combination of a posteriorly directed processus retroarticularis and a nearly identical triturating surface that is narrow anteriorly with a horizontal labial ridge and a dorsally rising lingual ridge. A second specimen, consisting of an incomplete symphyseal region, is questionably identified as Bothremydidae on the basis of a thick wedge-shaped symphysis with partial or complete pits on the rami. The cf. Erymnochelys specimen is the oldest record of Erymnochelys or a taxon very similar to it, and it indicates the persistence of a Mesozoic element in the extant Malagasy turtle fauna. The possible bothremydid jaw suggests a more cosmopolitan element now extinct"--P. [1].

Subjects

Cretaceous , Madagascar , Mahajanga (Province) , mandible , Paleontology , Reptiles, Fossil , Turtles, Fossil

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3397, 2003

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2003)397<0001:STLJPB>2.0.CO;2
OCLC: 51959112