Macrobaenidae is an extinct family of
turtles, known from the
Early Cretaceous to
Paleogene of
Laurasia. Their relationships to other turtles and whether they form a
monophlyletic group are controversial. They are typically interpreted as stem or
crown groupcryptodires, but some more recent analyses have found them to lie outside
crown group Testudines. Macrobaenids can be distinguished from other testudinatans by the presence of a carotid fenestra, cruciform plastron with strap-like
epiplastra, and a lack of extragulars.[1]
Hongkongochelys from the Middle-Late Jurassic of China has sometimes been attributed to the family,[4] but other times has been attriuted to
Sinemydidae, a group which has an unresolved relationship with Macrobaenidae.
^Gentry, A. D.; Kiernan, C. R.; Parham, J. F. (2022). "A large non-marine turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of Alabama and a review of North American "Macrobaenids"". The Anatomical Record.
doi:
10.1002/ar.25054.
^
abAdán Pérez-García (2020). "A European Cenozoic 'Macrobaenid:' New Data about the Paleocene Arrival of Several Turtle Lineages to Europe". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (4): e1795874.
doi:
10.1080/02724634.2020.1795874.
S2CID225151817.