New material of named fossil turtles from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian) of Wattendorf, Germany.

Walter G Joyce,Matthias Mäuser,William Oki Wong

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233483

Walter G Joyce, Matthias Mäuser + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233483

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Abstract

The newly discovered plattenkalk (platy limestone) locality of Wattendorf, southern Germany, has yielded a diverse fauna and flora dated to the base of the late Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic. We here describe three fossil turtle specimens that were recovered during systematic excavations of a distinct, 15 cm thick package of plattenkalks by the Naturkunde-Museum Bamberg. The first specimen is a large shell of Achelonia formosa, a taxon that is based on material from the late Kimmeridgian of Cerin, France. The new specimen suggests synonymy with Enaliochelys chelonia from the late Kimmeridgian of the United Kingdom. The second is a near-complete skeleton of the enigmatic Tropidemys seebachi, which was previously known only from the late Kimmeridgian of Hannover, northern Germany. The third specimen is a partial skeleton of Eurysternum wagleri, which had previously been known only from the early Tithonian of the Solnhofen region, southern Germany. In addition to new anatomical insights, the new material provides further evidence for spatial links during the late Kimmeridgian between northern and southern Germany, France, and the United Kingdom and temporal link from the late Kimmeridgian to the early Tithonian. The prevalence of partial, though articulated specimens is suggestive of predation by an unknown large marine reptile.

Highlights

Late Jurassic deposits across Europe have yielded an astounding array of fossil turtles since the 19th century that were recently united into the clade Thalassochelydia [1]
Fossil turtle taxa were often named over the course of the 19th century based on highly fragmentary material [3, 4, 5], but generations of workers have been reluctant to ignore the resulting dubious names [6, 7] resulting in a pantheon of poorly diagnosed taxa [1]
Achelonia formosa was first described from the late Kimmeridgian of Cerin, from the Late Kimmeridgian of Cerin (France) [1, 11]

Summary

Introduction

Late Jurassic deposits across Europe have yielded an astounding array of fossil turtles since the 19th century (see [1, 2] for recent summaries) that were recently united into the clade Thalassochelydia [1]. The posterior margin is missing, the carapace likely once consisted of a nuchal, eleven pairs of peripherals, eight neurals, at least two suprapygal elements, including the "intermediate element," and a pygal (Fig 2).

Results

Conclusion