The Cranial Morphology of Anosteira maomingensis (Testudines, Pancarettochelys) and the Evolution of Pan-Carettochelyid Turtles

• Published in: Journal of vertebrate paleontology Vol. 37; no. 4; p. e1335735
• Main Authors: Danilov, Igor G, Obraztsova, Ekaterina M, Chen, Wen, Jin, Jianhua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 04.07.2017; Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0272-4634; 1937-2809
• DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1335735

This paper describes the cranial morphology of Anosteira maomingensis, a turtle of the clade Pan- Carettochelys, based on a skull that is part of a more complete specimen from the middle-upper Eocene Youganwo Formation of Maoming, Guangdong Province, China. The cranial data of An. maomingensis were included in a phylogenetic analysis of pan-carettochelyids, one that was complemented with new codings and characters and also including cranial and non-shell postcranial characters of Kizylkumemys schultzi (Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan). It also included characters of vertebral scutes of pan-carettochelyids based on a newly proposed nomenclature of vertebral scutes for this group. The result of our phylogenetic analyses supports a recently proposed hypothesis of probable paraphyly of Anosteirinae, Kizylkumemys, Anosteira, and Allaeochelys. In addition, our study summarizes data on cranial morphology of pan-carettochelyid turtles and discusses some aspects of their evolution.