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163 ReferencesEvolution of the side-necked turtles: The families Bothremydidae, Euraxemydidae, and Araripemydidae
Abstract
Although pleurodires have been considered significantly less diverse than their sister group, the cryptodires, current discoveries show that pleurodires had a more complex and extensive evolutionary history than had been realized. Previously unknown radiations, particularly in the near-shore marine realm, are revealed by taxa with diverse cranial morphology, indicating many different feeding and sensory strategies. The pleurodire group that is changed the most by the new discoveries is its largest group, the hyperfamily Pelomedusoides. The hyperfamily Pelomedusoides now consists of the families Pelomedusidae, Podocnemididae, Bothremydidae, Araripemydidae, and Euraxemydidae, new family. The families Bothremydidae, Araripemydidae, and Euraxemydidae, new family, are documented with descriptions of skulls, lower jaws, and shells. The relationships of the family Podocnemididae to its sister taxa Hamadaehelys and Brasilemys are recognized by placing them in the epifamily Podocnemidinura. The epifamily Podocnemidinura is the sister group to the family Bothremydidae, and together they form the superfamily Podocnemidoidea.
- ... Thus, taking into account the width of both the neural (i.e., considering both the dorsal and the visceral views) and the costal series relative to their lengths, this carapace is recognized as particularly broad and short, as is the only known case of the fossil species Cordichelys antiqua (Andrews, 1903). A reconstruction of the Osona carapace is provided here (Fig. 13a3), based on the figures of Andrews (1903), Dacqué (1912) and Gaffney et al. (2006) and the specimen of Dacqué (1912) (Fig. 13b). The posterior margin of the first vertebral scute and the entire surface corresponding to the second to fourth verte- brals are preserved. ...... The global climatic variations which in- creased the temperatures during the lower part of the upper Cretaceous resulted in a worldwide transgression, generat- ing changes in the pleurodiran distributions and allowing the diachronic dispersion of Pelomedusoides, particularly from Africa to Europe (Pérez-García, 2016a, b). The early Ceno- manian to Maastrichtian dispersion of continental Bothremy- didae in the Mediterranean Tethys, from the northern Africa borders (e.g., the Kem Kem beds of Morocco and the Bahar- ija levels of Egypt), not only occurred in the African-Arabian platform (for example in the Cenomanian Ramallah area of Palestine and Maastrichtian of Ammonite Hill and Syria) but also in Madagascar and India ( Gaffney et al., 2006;Haas, 1978a, b;Khalloufi et al., 2017;Lapparent de Broin, 2000;Lapparent de Broin and Prasad, 2018;Lapparent de Broin et al., 2009;Lapparent de Broin and Werner, 1998;Zouhri et al., 2017a, b), reaching Europe and even North Amer- ica in the future ( Gaffney et al., 2006;Hay, 1908;PérezGarcía, 2018;Weems and Knight, 2013;Zangerl, 1948). The first known Pelomedusoides dispersal event from Gond- wana toward Europe was performed during, at least, the mid- dle Cenomanian (or before), the coastal bothremydid Algo- rachelus being recognized in the Iberian island, both in Por- tugal and in Spain (Pérez-García, 2016a; Pérez-García et al., 2017a) but also in the Middle East and North America ( Pérez-García, 2018). ...... The global climatic variations which in- creased the temperatures during the lower part of the upper Cretaceous resulted in a worldwide transgression, generat- ing changes in the pleurodiran distributions and allowing the diachronic dispersion of Pelomedusoides, particularly from Africa to Europe (Pérez-García, 2016a, b). The early Ceno- manian to Maastrichtian dispersion of continental Bothremy- didae in the Mediterranean Tethys, from the northern Africa borders (e.g., the Kem Kem beds of Morocco and the Bahar- ija levels of Egypt), not only occurred in the African-Arabian platform (for example in the Cenomanian Ramallah area of Palestine and Maastrichtian of Ammonite Hill and Syria) but also in Madagascar and India ( Gaffney et al., 2006;Haas, 1978a, b;Khalloufi et al., 2017;Lapparent de Broin, 2000;Lapparent de Broin and Prasad, 2018;Lapparent de Broin et al., 2009;Lapparent de Broin and Werner, 1998;Zouhri et al., 2017a, b), reaching Europe and even North Amer- ica in the future ( Gaffney et al., 2006;Hay, 1908;PérezGarcía, 2018;Weems and Knight, 2013;Zangerl, 1948). The first known Pelomedusoides dispersal event from Gond- wana toward Europe was performed during, at least, the mid- dle Cenomanian (or before), the coastal bothremydid Algo- rachelus being recognized in the Iberian island, both in Por- tugal and in Spain (Pérez-García, 2016a; Pérez-García et al., 2017a) but also in the Middle East and North America ( Pérez-García, 2018). ...
- ... Bothremydidae was one of the most abundant lineages of pleurodiran turtles in both the Upper Cretaceous and the Paleogene records (see de Lapparent de Broin 2000; Gaffney et al. 2006). Taphrosphyina is identified as one of the most diverse and best represented clades within Bothremydidae. ...... Taphrosphyina is identified as one of the most diverse and best represented clades within Bothremydidae. It is recognized in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East (Hay 1908;Bergounioux 1956;Wood 1975;de Broin 1977;Bardet et al. 2000;de Lapparent de Broin 2000;Gaffney et al. 2006). ...... Some authors proposed that this genus was represented by several Upper Cretaceous to Eocene species from North America, South America, Europe and France (Zangerl 1947;Wood 1975;de Broin 1977;Antunes and de Broin 1988;Lapparent de Broin and Werner 1998). However, subsequent findings allowed to consider it as probably restricted to three species ( Gaffney et al. 2006), which has recently been confirmed ( P?rezGarc?a et al. 2018): the North American Danian Taphrosphys sulcatus (Leidy 1856), from New Jersey; the African Danian Taphrosphys ippolitoi Gaffney et al. 2006, from Morocco; and the African Selandian to Thanetian Taphrosphys congolensis (Dollo 1913), from Angola. ...
- ... The Kem Kem contains a rich fauna including dinosaurs (Chiarenza and Cau, 2016;Mannion and Barrett, 2013;Russell, 1996;Sereno et al., 1996), pterosaurs (Ibrahim et al., 2010;Martill et al., 2018;Wellnhofer and Buffetaut, 1999), crocodiliforms ( de Broin, 2002;Sereno and Larsson, 2009), turtles ( Gaffney et al., 2002Gaffney et al., , 2006), snakes ( Klein et al., 2017;Rage and Dutheil, 2008), amphibians (Rage and Dutheil, 2008), fish , and sharks (Cavin et al., 2010). The fauna includes salt-intolerant species including amphibians and lungfish, as well as large fish and sharks, and semiaquatic crocodylomorphs and turtles. ...
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I would like to understand evolutionary history of turtles, especially during the Mesozoic age. Origin of turtles should be one of the most important subjects.
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