New fossils of the genus Chelus (Testudines, Chelidae) from the Miocene of the Brazilian Amazon, Acre Basin, Brazil

• Grant number: 21/13200-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: May 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Annie Schmaltz Hsiou
• Grantee: Donato Jesus Martucci Neto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/01348-2 - Morphological and size diversity of extinct and living Chelus, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Testudines is a clade composed of two sister lineages, Cryptodira and Pleurodira, both with living and fossil representatives, and which differ mainly in the way the neck is retracted into the hull: vertically and laterally, respectively. Fossil testudines are quite common throughout the South American Cenozoic, since most fossils are represented by elements of the carapace and plastron, which are structures that are easily preserved, due to the hull morphology, with a resistant composition that difficulty in disarticulation during the taphonic processes. The Solimões Formation, Acre Basin, which outcrops in the states of Acre and Amazonas, contains the most diverse fossil fauna of neogenous amniotes in Brazil. The outcrops are found mainly on the erosive banks of the Purus, Acre and Juruá rivers, among others, since the 19th century. To date, as recorded for other neogenous deposits from northern South America, most of the fossil turtles from the Brazilian Amazon are mainly represented by genera due to the families Chelidae, Podocnemididae and Testudinidae. This project aims to carry out an osteological description and detailed study of new fossils of Chelus from outcrops on the banks of the Purus River, of the Solimões Formation, Upper Miocene of the Acre Basin of the Brazilian Amazon, deposited in the Paleontology Collection of the Federal University of Acre (Rio Branco campus).

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MARTUCCI NETO, Donato Jesus. Osteological description of the fossil and extant Chelus (Pleurodira: Chelidae). 2024. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) Ribeirão Preto.