Hadrianus (turtle)

Hadrianus
Temporal range: 55.4–33.9 Ma Eocene[1]
"Hadrianus majusculus"
Hadrianus majusculus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Clade: Pantestudinoidea
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
(unranked): †Pantestudinidae
Genus: †Hadrianus
Cope, 1872[2][1]
Species
  • H. corsoni
  • H. majusculus

Hadrianus is an extinct genus of tortoise belonging to the Testudinidae[1] found in the United States, the Yolomécatl Formation of Mexico, the Alai Beds of Kyrgyzstan and Spain[citation needed] and believed to be the oldest true tortoise known.[3] The genus is thought to be closely related to the genus Manouria.[3] The genus may have evolved in the subtropics of Asia and subsequently migrated to North America and Europe.[3] Evangelos Vlachos (2018) reassessed the North American species attributed to the genus, and determined only two as accepted namely H. corsoni & H. majusculus. The remaining species were identified as either junior synonyms, moved to other genera or considered nomen dubium do to incomplete fossils.[4]

  1. ^ a b c "Fossilworks: Hadrianus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ E. D. Cope. 1872. Second account of new Vertebrata from the Bridger Eocene. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (separate) 1-3
  3. ^ a b c Ehret, Dana Joseph 2004 "Skeletochronology as a method of aging Oligocene Gopherus laticuneus and Stylemys nebrascensis, using Gopherus polyphemus as a modern analog" Thesis, University of Florida.
  4. ^ Vlachos, E (2018). "A Review of the Fossil Record of North American Turtles of the Clade Pan-Testudinoidea". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 59 (1): 3. doi:10.3374/014.059.0101. hdl:11336/117896. ISSN 0079-032X. S2CID 214641639.