A bothremydid turtle (Pleurodira) from the middle Cenomanian of Vale de Figueira (Belas, Portugal).

Abstract

An unpublished turtle shell from the middle Cenomanian of Vale de Figueira, near Belas (Lisbon District, Portugal), is recognized by us as collected in 1880 under the direction of Carlos Ribeiro. No turtle remains from that region had so far been figured, described or discussed from a systematic point of view. The specimen corresponds to a partial but articulated shell. It is attributed to Pleurodira and, more specifically, to Bothremydidae. Only one pre-Campanian turtle specimen was previously identified at the infrafamilial level in the Cretaceous record of Portugal. It was a partial shell from the middle Cenomanian of Nazaré (Leiria District) attributed to the bothremydid Algorachelus peregrina, a species defined in a Spanish synchronous locality (Algora, in Central Spain). Several anatomical regions in the specimen from Vale de Figueira were not preserved in the partial carapace from Nazaré, and differences in the morphology of some elements are recognized between both shells. However, the individual studied here is also ascribed to Algorachelus peregrina, these differences being justified by intraspecific variability. Therefore, the specimen represents the second evidence on the species in Portugal, being the only one recognized for the Lisbon District.