Solnhofia

Solnhofia
Temporal range: Kimmeridgian–Tithonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Pantestudines
Clade: Testudinata
Clade: Thalassochelydia
Family: Eurysternidae
Genus: Solnhofia
Gaffney, 1975
Species
  • Solnhofia parsonsi Gaffney, 1975
  • Solnhofia brachyrhyncha Anquetin & Püntener, 2020

Solnhofia is a genus of extinct thalassochelydian turtle from the Late Jurassic of Germany. The type species is Solnhofia parsonsi, named by Gaffney in 1975 for a partial skull and jaw from the early Tithonian of the Solnhofen Formation in Bavaria. Additional material including a complete skeleton is known from the late Kimmeridgian of Switzerland and the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian of other deposits within Bavaria, and potentially also unprepared material from the Late Jurassic of France. The genus was referred to the family Eurysternidae by Anquetin and colleagues in 2017, which may represent an artificial grade of early thalassochelydians.[1] In 2020 a new species Solnhofia brachyrhyncha was described from the Kimmeridigan aged Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland.[2]

  1. ^ Anquetin, J.; Püntener, C.; Joyce, W.G. (2017). "A Review of the Fossil Record of Turtles of the Clade Thalassochelydia" (PDF). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 58 (2): 317–369. doi:10.3374/014.058.0205. S2CID 31091127.
  2. ^ Anquetin, Jérémy; Püntener, Christian (2020-11-12). "A new species of the large-headed coastal marine turtle Solnhofia (Testudinata, Thalassochelydia) from the Late Jurassic of NW Switzerland". PeerJ. 8: e9931. doi:10.7717/peerj.9931. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7666818. PMID 33240584.