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The pleurodiran turtle genus Cearachelys is extinct; it was extant around 110 million years ago. Cearachelys placidoi is the sole known type species of the monotypic genus.

Etymology

The state of Ceará in Brazil, where the species was found, inspired the genus's name. The director of the Museu Paleontologico de Santana do Cariri, Placido Nuvens, is honored with the unique name.

Description

Cearachelys placidoi was first described in 2001 using the remains of two almost complete turtle skeletons found in the Santana Group's Early Cretaceous rocks. The two specimens originated from the group's Romualdo Formation, which is located in what is now northwest Brazil. The original specimen, which is kept at the Museu Paleontologico de Santana do Cariri, is tentatively designated MPSC-uncatalogued. It is made up of pieces of limb bones, the turtle's shell, an incomplete head, and a few neck vertebrae. The majority of the turtle's axial and appendicular skeletons may be found in the second specimen, TUTg 1798, a more complete fossil. Although this specimen is from the same area, the museum actually purchased it eight years earlier, in 1993. In 2007, a third fragmented specimen was recognized as C. placidoi. The specimen, MN-6760-V, was around 20 cm long and had a very intact petrified carapace and plastron. Based on many distinctive anatomical features, including the orientation of skeletal components in the head and the location of the pelvic girdle's attachment to the carapace, the species was classified as a pleurodire. Its placement in the Bothremydidae family was determined by additional examination of the components of its skull. Skull characteristics, however, also set the species apart from other relatives. Its nearest relative appears to be the Moroccan Late Cretaceous turtle Galianemys, which belongs to a taxon that emerged considerably later. The jugal bone in both genera is somewhat retracted, a feature not found in other bothremydids. In the tribe Cearachelyini, Gaffney merged the two closely related genera in a 2006 work on the phylogeny of extinct pleurodires.

CearachelysShell

Shell of Cearachelys.

Sources[1]

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