The largest Cretaceous podocnemidoid turtle (Pleurodira) revealed by an isolated plate from the Bauru Basin, south-central Brazil

Autor(es)

Hermanson, Guilherme ; Ferreira, Gabriel S. ; Langer, Max C.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: HISTORICAL BIOLOGY; v. 29, n. 6, p. 833-840, 2017.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

The Bauru Basin (south-central Brazil) fossils have largely contributed to understand the faunal composition of South American Cretaceous. Among those, several turtle specimens were retrieved from those deposits, all belonging to Podocnemidoidae, the single group known from the Basin. On the other hand, only incomplete shell elements indicate large turtles such as `Peiropolis A'. Another shell fragment, a large peripheral plate from the Marilia Formation, is described here. Its lack of surface ornamentation, and deep sulci are generally typical for podocnemidoids. The plate exhibits a narrow knob slightly projected onto the pleuro-marginal sulcus, absent in any other Bauru Basin turtle. According to extant and fossil podocnemidoids measures, we estimated this individual reached 1 m of carapace length, exceeding in size all other taxa known from the Basin. This new report reveals a broader size variation among podocnemidoids from the Late Cretaceous of Bauru Basin and a morphological diversity previously unknown for the period, comparable to those of the Amazon Basin today, in which inhabits the largest extant podocnemidoid Podocnemis expansa. Furthermore, the occurrence of such large turtles implies the presence of perennial streams on the northeastern portion of the Bauru Basin during the Maastrichtian and a richer environment than previously thought. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/03825-3 - A origem e irradiação dos dinossauros no Gondwana (Neotriássico - Eojurássico)
• Beneficiário: Max Cardoso Langer
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 14/25379-5 - Evolução, morfologia e desenvolvimento da região do pterigóide em Testudines com foco em Pleurodira
• Beneficiário: Gabriel de Souza Ferreira
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 16/03373-0 - Descrição da anatomia interna do crânio de um Podocnemidoidea (Pleurodira: Pelomedusoides) do Cretáceo de São Paulo
• Beneficiário: Guilherme Hermanson Souza
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica