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New material of named fossil turtles from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian) of Wattendorf, Germany - PubMed

  • ️Wed Jan 01 2020

New material of named fossil turtles from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian) of Wattendorf, Germany

Walter G Joyce et al. PLoS One. 2020.

Abstract

The newly discovered plattenkalk (platy limestone) locality of Wattendorf, southern Germany, has yielded a diverse fauna and flora dated to the base of the late Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic. We here describe three fossil turtle specimens that were recovered during systematic excavations of a distinct, 15 cm thick package of plattenkalks by the Naturkunde-Museum Bamberg. The first specimen is a large shell of Achelonia formosa, a taxon that is based on material from the late Kimmeridgian of Cerin, France. The new specimen suggests synonymy with Enaliochelys chelonia from the late Kimmeridgian of the United Kingdom. The second is a near-complete skeleton of the enigmatic Tropidemys seebachi, which was previously known only from the late Kimmeridgian of Hannover, northern Germany. The third specimen is a partial skeleton of Eurysternum wagleri, which had previously been known only from the early Tithonian of the Solnhofen region, southern Germany. In addition to new anatomical insights, the new material provides further evidence for spatial links during the late Kimmeridgian between northern and southern Germany, France, and the United Kingdom and temporal link from the late Kimmeridgian to the early Tithonian. The prevalence of partial, though articulated specimens is suggestive of predation by an unknown large marine reptile.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Simplified map of the distribution of the fossil turtles Achelonia formosa, Eurysternum wagleri, and Tropidemys seebachi.

All points signify previously documented fossil turtle localities following Anquetin et al. (2017). The map was created using Maperitive. Larger dots represent localities explicitly discussed in the text: 1, Ely, United Kingdom; 2, Hannover, Germany; 3, Wattendorf, Germany; 4, Denkendorf/Zandt, Germany; 5, Solnhofen, Germany; 6, Cerin, France.

Fig 2
Fig 2. NKMB Watt15/1, Achelonia formosa, late Kimmeridgian of Wattendorf, Germany.

Photograph and interpretive line drawing in dorsal view. Abbreviations: Ce, cervical scute; co, costal; cv, cervical vertebra; hyo, hyoplastron; hyp, hypoplastron; il, ilium; int, intermediate element; Ma, marginal scute; ne, neural; nu, nuchal; per, peripheral; pu, pubis; spy, suprapygal; sr, sacral rib; Ve, vertebral scute; xi, xiphiplastron.

Fig 3
Fig 3. NKMB Watt08/406, Eurysternum wagleri, late Kimmeridgian of Wattendorf, Germany.

Photograph and interpretive line drawing of specimen in ventral view. Abbreviations: ac, astragalocalcaneum; ans, ansula; cc, caudal column; co, costal; fe, femur; fi, fibula; il, ilium; is, ischium; Ma, marginal scute; mt, metatarsal; per, peripheral; pu, pubis; ti, tibia. Roman numerals label digits.

Fig 4
Fig 4. NKMB Watt09/162, Tropidemys seebachi, late Kimmeridgian of Wattendorf, Germany.

Photograph and interpretive line drawing of (A) complete specimen and (B) skull and cervical column in dorsal view. Abbreviations: a.b., axillary buttress; Ce, cervical scute; co, costal; cor, coracoid; cv, cervical vertebra; fr, frontal; hu, humerus; i.b., inguinal buttress; Ma, marginal scute; na, nasal; ne, neural; nu, nuchal; pa, parietal; per, peripheral; pf, prefrontal; po, postorbital; py, pygal; ra, radius; sca, scapula; spy, suprapygal; ul, ulna. Roman numerals label carapacial scutes and digits.

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References

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Grants and funding

This contribution was funded by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to WGJ (SNF 200021_178780/1). http://www.snf.ch The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.