A reassessment of the referral of Sea Turtle skulls to Osteopygis(Late Cretaceous, New Jersey, USA)
Specimens referred to Osteopygis (Late Cretaceous-Paleocene,North America) represent a chimera, a polyphyletic mixture of taxa. Theholotype of Osteopygis (AMNH 1485) and more complete referred postcranialspecimens resemble non-marine stem cryptodires ("macrobaenids"). Becausethe skull material historically referredto Osteopygis sharessynapomorphies with cheloniid sea turtles, all current workers acceptOsteopygis as a stem-cheloniid sea turtle. Multiple lines of evidencecombine to support the hypothesis that sea turtle cranial material is notattributable to Osteopygis. These lines of evidence include: phylogenetichypotheses of character evolution, the tenuous historical attribution ofspecimens, and the taphonomy of the Hornerstown Formation. Thename-bearing Osteopygis material and referred postcrania are bestconsidered Eucryptodira incertae sedis (cf. "Macrobaenidae"). The cranialspecimens formerly assigned to the Osteopyginae now are restricted to theclade Euclastes and those referred to Osteopygis emarginatus are herereferred to Euclastes wielandi (comb. nov.). The 'decapitation' ofOsteopygis reconciles morphological trends within stemcheloniids.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director, Office of Science
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 918911
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL--54670
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Journal Name: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 25
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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