Notochelone Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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Type specimen, partial carapace | |
Restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Family: | †Protostegidae |
Genus: | †Notochelone Lydekker, 1889 |
Type species | |
†Notochelys costata Owen, 1882
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Synonyms | |
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Notochelone is an extinct genus of sea turtle, which existed about 100 million years ago.[1] The species was first described by Richard Owen in 1882 as Notochelys costata. It was renamed by Richard Lydekker in 1889.[2][3] It was the most common marine reptile living in the inlands of the sea around Queensland, Australia.[4] It was small turtle with carapace less than 1 metre (3.3 ft).[5][1] Analytical studies have indicated that the creatures frequently ate benthic molluscs.[6]