Fossil record of turtle clades Baenidae and Pan-Trionychidae

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

Non-dino papers that may be of interest to some:

Walter G. Joyce and Tyler R. Lyson (2015)
A Review of the Fossil Record of Turtles of the Clade Baenidae.
Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 56(2):147-183
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3374/014.056.0203
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3374/014.056.0203



The fossil record of the turtle clade Baenidae ranges from the Early
Cretaceous (Aptian—Albian) to the Eocene. The group is present
throughout North America during the Early Cretaceous, but is
restricted to the western portions of the continents in the Late
Cretaceous and Paleogene. No credible remains of the clade have been
reported outside of North America to date. Baenids were warmadapted
freshwater aquatic turtles that supported high levels of diversity at
times through niche partitioning, particularly by adapting to a broad
range of dietary preferences ranging from omnivorous to
molluscivorous. Current phylogenies place Baenidae near the split of
crown-group Testudines. Within Baenidae three more inclusive, named
clades are recognized: Baenodda, Palatobaeninae and Eubaeninae. A
taxonomic review of the group concludes that of 49 named taxa, 30 are
nomina valida, 12 are nomina invalida and 7 are nomina dubia.

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Natasha S. Vitek and Walter G. Joyce (2015)
A Review of the Fossil Record of New World Turtles of the Clade
Pan-Trionychidae.
Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 56(2):185-244
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3374/014.056.0204
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3374/014.056.0204

Turtles of the clade Pan-Trionychidae have a rich, but fragmentary
fossil record in the New World, ranging from the Late Cretaceous to
the Holocene. The clade immigrated to North America from Asia no later
than the Cenomanian. From the Campanian to the middle Eocene,
pan-trionychid diversity in the New World was higher than it is today.
In the Neogene, pan-trionychids inhabited southern North America and
coastal regions of northern South America. Their range subsequently
contracted, and extant New World pan-trionychids are now limited to
the eastern third of temperate North America. The ecology of extinct
pan-trionychids was likely similar to that of extant pan-trionychids,
although novel feeding ecology has been hypothesized for some
morphologically derived taxa. Current phylogenies of crown
Trionychidae recognize two major clades, Cyclanorbinae and
Trionychinae, but the placement of most fossil taxa remains poorly
resolved relative to these two primary clades. A taxonomic review of
101 named New World taxa finds 31 nomina valida, 26 nomina invalida,
41 nomina dubia and 2 nomina nuda.