Dorsetochelys Temporal range: Late
Jurassic-
Early Cretaceous
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Pantestudines |
Clade: | Testudinata |
Clade: | † Paracryptodira |
Family: | † Pleurosternidae |
Genus: | †
Dorsetochelys Evans and Kemp, 1976 |
Species | |
D. delairi Evans and Kemp, 1976 (
type) | |
Synonyms | |
Pleurosternon typocardium Seeley, 1869 |
Dorsetochelys is an extinct genus of turtle from the Early Cretaceous of southern England and northwestern Germany.
The type species, Dorsetochelys delairi, was described on the basis of DORCM G.23, a complete skull from the Early Cretaceous ( Berriasian) Purbeck Group of Dorset, England. [1] Later, a turtle skull from the vicinity of Como Bluff, Wyoming, was described as a new species, D. buzzops, in honor of Buzz Pitman, a museum director of the Rock River Museum near Como Bluff. [2] However, a cladistic analysis conducted in 2013 recovered that species as a member of Baenidae, sister to Uluops. [3]
In 2012, pleurosternid remains were described from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Bückeberg Formation of Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany, and this prompted a re-assessment of the problematic species "Pleurosternon" typocardium, which had been tentatively referred to Glyptops by Milner (2004). [4] The new genus Ballerstedtia was coined for "P." typocardium, and the remains from Lower Saxony were named B. bueckergensis. [5] In a paper published in 2014, Ballerstedtia was synonymized with Dorsetochelys. [6]