Hydropelta

Summary

Hydropelta is a genus of Late Jurassic turtle from marine deposits in the Jura Mountains of eastern France.

Hydropelta
Temporal range: Kimmeridgian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pantestudines
Clade: Testudinata
Clade: Thalassochelydia
Family: Eurysternidae
Genus: Hydropelta
von Meyer, 1860
Type species
Chelone meyeri
Thiolliere, 1851

Like many other eurysternid taxa, Hydropelta was at times considered the same species as Eurysternum. Originally described as a species of Chelone, it was renamed Hydropelta by Hermann von Meyer in 1860. Later, it was synonymized with Eurysternum by Oertel (1915), but was treated as a distinct genus and possibly a synonym of Solnhofia by Lapparent de Broin et al. (1996). However, Hydropelta is distinct from other eurysternids by the characters of the fontanelles and plastron.[1][2]

References edit

  1. ^ Jérémy Anquetin & Walter G. Joyce (2014) A reassessment of the Late Jurassic turtle Eurysternum wagleri (Eucryptodira, Eurysternidae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(6): 1317-1328. DOI:10.1080/02724634.2014.880449 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2014.880449#.VFkLgfnF_To
  2. ^ Anquetin, J., Puntener, C., and Joyce, W.G., 2017. A review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Thalassochelydia. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 58 (2):317-369.