Abstract
Trionychid turtles were widespread throughout much of the Western Interior Basin of North America during the Cretaceous, represented by a wide variety of taxa. Despite their widespread abundance east of the Rocky Mountains, they have not previously been reported from Cretaceous deposits along the Pacific Coast of North America. We report here on an isolated trionychid costal from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The fossil was recovered from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Maastrichtian) Nanaimo Group, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. While the fossil is generically indeterminate, its presence adds an important datapoint in the biogeographic distribution of Trionychidae.
Highlights
In Cretaceous deposits of North America, they have not been reported from west of the Rocky Mountains
Institutional Abbreviations: RBCM, Royal British the fossil is listed as possibly coming from the Extension
Trionychid turtles first make their appearance in North America during the Cenomanian (Fiorillo 1999; Brinkman 2003), and by the Campanian are among the most common fossils found in Late Cretaceous deposits of the Western Interior Basin (e.g., Gardner et al 1995; Brinkman 2003; Joyce and Lyson 2010)
Summary
Order TESTUDINES Linnaeus, 1758 found in Upper Cretaceous deposits of North America. (Hay 1908; Brinkman 2003; Joyce and Lyson 2010), and Trionychidae indet. Order TESTUDINES Linnaeus, 1758 found in Upper Cretaceous deposits of North America. (Hay 1908; Brinkman 2003; Joyce and Lyson 2010), and Trionychidae indet. We describe an isolated costal plate of an indeterminate trionychid from the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The locality information associated with the fossil states that it was collected from “Shaft No 6, Union Mines, (Nanaimo - Cumberland area)”. Institutional Abbreviations: RBCM, Royal British the fossil is listed as possibly coming from the Extension. Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Formation. TMP, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, from nearby rocks of the Haslam and Pender formations. The three formations form a continuous succession, with the late
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