Kallokibotion is an extinct
genus of stem-turtle from the
Upper Cretaceous (
Maastrichtian, 86–66 million years ago), known from fossils found in
Romania.[1] One species is known, Kallokibotion bajazidi, which was named by
Franz Nopcsa after his lover
Bajazid Doda.[2][3] It literally means 'beautiful box of Bajazid'; Nopcsa chose the name because, in the words of British palaeontologist Gareth Dyke, "the shape of the shell reminded him of Bajazid's arse".[3] A second undescribed species is known from the
Santonian of
Hungary.[4] Turtles similar to Kallokibotion were reported from the
Paleocene of
France[5] and the Lower Maastrichtian of
Volgograd Oblast,
Russia,[6] but these similarities were dismissed later.[5][7]
Description
Kallokibotion reached 50 cm (1 ft 8 in) in carapace length. There are jagged ornaments on its shell.[1]
Taxonomy
A fossil of this turtle was mistakenly described as a
pterosaur of the genus Thalassodromeus in 2014.[8] In 1992, it was identified as a basal
cryptodire, and as a
meiolaniid in the early 2010's.[1] Later phylogenetic analysis based on characters described from new specimens places Kallokibotion as the sister taxon of the crown testudines.[9] A 2021 analysis placed Kallokibotion in
Compsemydidae within
Paracryptodira.[10]
^Gaffney, Eugene S.; Meylan, Peter A. (1992). "The Transylvanian turtle, Kallokibotion, a primitive cryptodire of Cretaceous Age". American Museum Novitates (3040).
hdl:
2246/5005.
^Adán Pérez-García; Vlad Codrea (2018). "New insights on the anatomy and systematics of Kallokibotion Nopcsa, 1923, the enigmatic uppermost Cretaceous basal turtle (stem Testudines) from Transylvania". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 182 (2): 419–443.
doi:
10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx037.