First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe
Fossil soft-shelled turtles (Trionychidae) have so far been recognized in all continents except Antarctica, based largely on remains preserving their diagnostic sculptured shell bones. The origin of the group is generally assumed to be in the Early Cretaceous of Asia, whereas they first appear in No...
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The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
2012
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 |
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ftbioone:10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 2024-06-02T07:57:40+00:00 First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson world 2012-09-01 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 en eng The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 Text 2012 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 2024-05-07T00:50:56Z Fossil soft-shelled turtles (Trionychidae) have so far been recognized in all continents except Antarctica, based largely on remains preserving their diagnostic sculptured shell bones. The origin of the group is generally assumed to be in the Early Cretaceous of Asia, whereas they first appear in North America and Europe during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene, respectively. Here we describe the first record of an indeterminate trionychid from the late early Campanian from southern Sweden, a part of the paleobiogeographically isolated Fenno-Scandian Shield, thus extending the stratigraphic record of the group in Europe back about 15 Ma into the Late Cretaceous. Our finding provides evidence against the currently favored dispersal scenario in which trionychid turtles are interpreted to have come to Europe first during the Paleocene either directly from North America or via Asia. The described indeterminate trionychid possibly represents a relic of a pre-Cretaceous endemic radiation of North European trionychids living mainly on the Fenno-Skandian Shield or it may indicate a potential lower latitude dispersal route of trionychids from Asia to North America via Europe during the Late Cretaceous. Text Antarc* Antarctica BioOne Online Journals Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 5 1214 1217 |
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BioOne Online Journals |
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language |
English |
description |
Fossil soft-shelled turtles (Trionychidae) have so far been recognized in all continents except Antarctica, based largely on remains preserving their diagnostic sculptured shell bones. The origin of the group is generally assumed to be in the Early Cretaceous of Asia, whereas they first appear in North America and Europe during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene, respectively. Here we describe the first record of an indeterminate trionychid from the late early Campanian from southern Sweden, a part of the paleobiogeographically isolated Fenno-Scandian Shield, thus extending the stratigraphic record of the group in Europe back about 15 Ma into the Late Cretaceous. Our finding provides evidence against the currently favored dispersal scenario in which trionychid turtles are interpreted to have come to Europe first during the Paleocene either directly from North America or via Asia. The described indeterminate trionychid possibly represents a relic of a pre-Cretaceous endemic radiation of North European trionychids living mainly on the Fenno-Skandian Shield or it may indicate a potential lower latitude dispersal route of trionychids from Asia to North America via Europe during the Late Cretaceous. |
author2 |
Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson |
format |
Text |
author |
Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson |
spellingShingle |
Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
author_facet |
Torsten M. Scheyer Thomas Mörs Elisabeth Einarsson |
author_sort |
Torsten M. Scheyer |
title |
First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
title_short |
First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
title_full |
First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
title_fullStr |
First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
First Record of Soft-Shelled Turtles (Cryptodira, Trionychidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe |
title_sort |
first record of soft-shelled turtles (cryptodira, trionychidae) from the late cretaceous of europe |
publisher |
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 |
op_coverage |
world |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.694004 |
container_title |
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |
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32 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1214 |
op_container_end_page |
1217 |
_version_ |
1800740867283091456 |