Atlantochelys

Atlantochelys
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
Fossil humerus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: †Protostegidae
Genus: †
Leidy, 1865
Species:
†A. mortoni
Binomial name
†Atlantochelys mortoni
Leidy, 1865
illustration of proximal end of fossil turtle femur Atlantochelys mortoni
Illustration of the holotype.

Atlantochelys is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey. For 163 years, only a partial humerus was known, but the second part of the same bone was found in 2012.[1][2][3] The full size has been extrapolated as being 3 m (9.8 ft).[4]

References

  1. ^ Parris, D., Schein, J., Daeschler, E., Gilmore, E., Poole, J., Pellegrini, R. Two halves make a holotype: two hundred years between discoveries. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 163. ISSN 0097-3157.
  2. ^ "Paleontologists assemble giant turtle bone from fossil discoveries made centuries apart".
  3. ^ "Monster turtle fossils re-united". BBC News. 25 March 2014.
  4. ^ Parry, Wynne (March 25, 2014). "Missing Half of Bone Reveals Prehistoric Sea Giant". LiveScience. Retrieved December 23, 2018.


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