 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2020) |
| Australochelys Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Pantestudines |
| Clade: | Testudinata |
| Clade: | Rhaptochelydia |
| Family: | †Australochelyidae |
| Genus: | †Australochelys Gaffney & Kitching, 1994 |
| Type species | |
| Australochelys africanus Gaffney & Kitching, 1994
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Australochelys is an extinct genus of rhaptochelydian turtle. It is known from one species, A. africanus, that came from the Elliot Formation of South Africa. The holotype of Australochelys consists of only a skull and a fragment of the carapace, which shows both primitive and derived features. Like Proganochelys, Australochelys has large orbits and a ventral basioccipital tubercle, but like derived turtles such as casichelydians, a group containing Cryptodira and Pleurodira, it possesses a sutured basipterygoidal attachment, and a middle ear region partially enclosed laterally.[1] These characteristics show that Australochelys is more closely related to casichelydians than to Proganochelys, and together with the former, it makes up Rhaptochelydia. The skull of Australochelys shows that an advanced hearing mechanism of turtles evolved before the appearance of modern turtles.[1]
- ^ a b Gaffney, E.S. & Kitching, J.W. (1995). "The Morphology and Relationships of Australochelys, an Early Jurassic Turtle from South Africa". American Museum Novitates (3130): 29. hdl:2246/3666.