Pacifichelys

Pacifichelys
Temporal range: Miocene
Skull of Pacifichelys urbinai
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Chelonioidea
Genus: Pacifichelys
Type species
Pacifichelys urbinai
Parham and Pyenson, 2010
Species
  • P. urbinai Parham and Pyenson, 2010
  • P. hutchisoni (Lynch and Parham, 2003)
Synonyms
  • Euclastes hutchisoni Lynch and Parham, 2003)

Pacifichelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Miocene of Peru and California.[1] It was first named by James F. Parham and Nicholas D. Pyenson in 2010, and the type species is Pacifichelys urbinai from Peru.[1] A second species, P. hutchisoni, was reassigned from the genus Euclastes. It is known from the Miocene of California. Like the living Ridley and Loggerhead sea turtles, Pacifichelys was durophagous, consuming hard-shelled organisms with crushing jaws.[1]

Cladogram based on Lynch and Parham (2003)[2] and Parham and Pyenson (2010):[1]

An artist concept of Pacifichelys urbinai based on fossil records and descriptions
Cheloniidae sensu lato 

Toxochelys




Mexichelys [3]




Lophochelyinae




Euclastes




Argillochelys



Eochelone





Erquelinnesla



Pacifichelys





Puppigerus



Cheloniidae sensu stricto









References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.