Plesiochelys

Plesiochelys
Temporal range: Jurassic, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian[1]
Holotype shell of Plesiochelys. The shell is mounted upside-down
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pantestudines
Clade: Testudinata
Clade: †Thalassochelydia
Family: †Plesiochelyidae
Genus: †Plesiochelys
Rütimeyer, 1873
Type species
†Plesiochelys etalloni
(Pictet & Humbert, 1857)
Other species
  • †Plesiochelys bigleri
    Püntener, Anquetin & Billon-Bruyat, 2017[2]
Synonyms[1]

Synonyms of P. etalloni:

  • Emys etalloni Pictet & Humbert, 1857
  • Plesiochelys solodurensis Rütimeyer, 1873
  • Plesiochelys sanctaeverenae Rütimeyer, 1873
  • Plesiochelys langii Rütimeyer, 1873

Plesiochelys ("near turtle") is a genus of late Jurassic European and Asian turtle. The type species is Plesiochelys etalloni.[1]

Fossil records have discovered Plesiochelys bigleri and Plesiochelys etalloni from the Kimmeridge Clay of England and outside the Swiss and French Jura Mountains.[3]

A recent study[4] placed Plesiochelys as an Angolachelonia and outside Testudines.

  1. ^ a b c Anquetin, J. R. M.; Deschamps, S.; Claude, J. (2014). "The rediscovery and redescription of the holotype of the Late Jurassic turtle Plesiochelys etalloni". PeerJ. 2: e258. doi:10.7717/peerj.258. PMC 3932733. PMID 24688842.
  2. ^ Christian Püntener; Jérémy Anquetin; Jean-Paul Billon-Bruyat (2017). "The comparative osteology of Plesiochelys bigleri n. sp., a new coastal marine turtle from the Late Jurassic of Porrentruy (Switzerland)". PeerJ. 5: e3482. doi:10.7717/peerj.3482. PMC 5493033. PMID 28674653.
  3. ^ Anquetin, J.; Chapman, S. D. (2016). "First report of Plesiochelys etalloni and Tropidemys langii from the Late Jurassic of the UK and the palaeobiogeography of plesiochelyid turtles". Royal Society Open Science. 3 (1): e1-2. Bibcode:2016RSOS....350470A. doi:10.1098/rsos.150470. PMC 4736927. PMID 26909172.
  4. ^ Evers, S. W., & Benson, R. B. (2019). A new phylogenetic hypothesis of turtles with implications for the timing and number of evolutionary transitions to marine lifestyles in the group. Palaeontology, 62(1), 93–134.