Girard Léa C, Erickson J Mark, Lyson Tyler R, Hoganson John W, Joyce Walter G
Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
Department of Geology, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617 USA.
Swiss J Palaeontol. 2024;143(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s13358-024-00315-8. Epub 2024 May 24.
is a poorly understood softshell turtle () from the mid Paleocene of the Williston Basin of North America previously known only from postcranial remains. A particularly rich collection of previously undescribed material from the Tiffanian 4 North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA) of North Dakota is here presented consisting of numerous shells that document new variation, some non-shell postcrania, and cranial remains, which are described based on 3D models extracted from micro-CT data. Although the observed shell variation weakens previously noted differences with the younger species from the Clarkforkian NALMA, the two taxa are still recognized as distinct. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses reaffirm the previously challenged placement of within the clade , mostly based on novel observations of cranial characters made possible by the new material and the micro-CT data. The new topology supports the notion that the well-ossified plastron of plastomenids originated twice in parallel near the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary, once in the lineage and once in the / lineage. is notable for being the only documented species of trionychid in the mid Paleocene of the Williston Basin. The presence of multiple individuals in a carbonaceous claystone indicates this taxon lived in swamps and lakes and its expanded triturating surface suggests it had a durophagous diet.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13358-024-00315-8.
是一种来自北美威利斯顿盆地中古新世的软壳龟,此前仅从颅后遗骸中得知。本文展示了一批来自北达科他州蒂法尼阶4北美陆生哺乳动物时代(NALMA)的特别丰富的未描述材料,包括许多记录新变异的龟壳、一些非龟壳的颅后骨骼以及颅骨遗骸,这些都是基于从显微CT数据中提取的3D模型进行描述的。尽管观察到的龟壳变异削弱了之前所指出的与来自克拉克福克阶NALMA的较年轻物种的差异,但这两个分类单元仍被认为是不同的。简约法和贝叶斯系统发育分析再次确认了 在 分支内之前受到质疑的位置,这主要基于新材料和显微CT数据对颅骨特征的新观察。新的拓扑结构支持了这样一种观点,即侧颈龟科的骨质腹甲在白垩纪/古近纪边界附近平行起源了两次,一次在 谱系中,一次在 / 谱系中。 是威利斯顿盆地中古新世唯一有记录的鳖科物种。在碳质粘土岩中发现多个个体表明该分类单元生活在沼泽和湖泊中,其扩大的研磨表面表明它以硬壳食物为食。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s13358 - 024 - 00315 - 8获取的补充材料。