Corsochelys Temporal range:
Late Cretaceous
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Superfamily: | Chelonioidea |
Family: | Dermochelyidae |
Genus: | †
Corsochelys Zangerl, 1960 |
Type species | |
†C. halinches |
Corsochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle that lived in the Late Cretaceous ( Campanian). Zangerl (1960) named the type species (and currently only species; C. haliniches), based upon remains found in Alabama within the Mooreville Chalk Formation (the lower part of the Selma Group). [1]
Corsochelys is a basal dermochelyid. [1] As with other basal chelonioids (such as Santanachelys and Toxochelys), Corsochelys possesses a large foramen interorbitale with a narrow processus inferior parietalis, which indicates that the genus possessed salt-excreting lachrymal glands. [2] In addition to its similarly to these genera, Corsochelys retains a carapace with minimally reduced coastal plates. [3] Like the larger Archelon, Corsochelys had channels penetrating the subphyseal plate from bone into the cartilage above, [4] much like the living leatherback turtle. This means that Corsochelys would have reached their large size quickly through fast skeletal growth, as with the leatherback. [4]
Recently, a dermochelyid that closely resembles Corsochelys was found in the Maastrichtian deposits of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, Morocco. [5]