Atlantochelys
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Atlantochelys Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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Fossil femur | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Family: | †Protostegidae |
Genus: | †Atlantochelys Agassiz, 1849 |
Type species | |
†Atlantochelys mortoni (Agassiz, 1849)
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![illustration of proximal end of fossil turtle femur Atlantochelys mortoni](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Atlantochelys_humerus.jpg/220px-Atlantochelys_humerus.jpg)
Illustration of the holotype.
Atlantochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey. For 163 years, only a partial humerus was known, but the second part of the same bone was found in 2012.[1][2][3] The full size has been extrapolated as being 3 m (9.8 ft).[4]
References[]
- ^ Parris, D., Schein, J., Daeschler, E., Gilmore, E., Poole, J., Pellegrini, R. Two halves make a holotype: two hundred years between discoveries. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 163. ISSN 0097-3157.
- ^ "Paleontologists assemble giant turtle bone from fossil discoveries made centuries apart".
- ^ "Monster turtle fossils re-united". BBC News. 25 March 2014.
- ^ Parry, Wynne (March 25, 2014). "Missing Half of Bone Reveals Prehistoric Sea Giant". LiveScience. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
Categories:
- Late Cretaceous turtles of North America
- Protostegidae
- Prehistoric turtle genera
- Fossil taxa described in 1849
- Taxa named by Louis Agassiz
- Prehistoric turtle stubs