In Depth Notoemys is a genus of side necked turtle that lived in South America from the Jurassic to the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - Nuevo hallazgo de Chelonia extinguidos en la Republica Argentina - Physis 22. - N. Cattoi & M. A. Freiberg - 1961. - Notoemys zapatocaensis, a new side-necked turtle (Pleurodira, Platychelyidae) … Read more
In Depth Selenemys is a genus of turtle that lived in Portugal during the late Jurassic. Further Reading - Selenemys lusitanica, gen. et. sp. nov., a new pleurosternid turtle (Terstudines: Paracryptodira) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(1):60-69. - A. Perez-Garcia & F. Ortega - 2011.
In Depth Caribemys is a genus of sea turtle that lived during the late Jurassic. Further Reading - A new pleurodiran turtle from the Jagua Formation (Oxfordian) of western Cuba. Journal of Paleontology 75(4):860-869. - M. S. de la Fuente & M. Iturralde-Vinent - 2001.
In Depth Mesosaurus is one of the first reptiles to return to an aquatic lifestyle. The nostrils are on top of the skull and the legs are suited more for aquatic movement than that on land. The tail may have sported a fin similar to the earlier tetrapod amphibians, and the feet were webbed. As … Read more
In Depth Bradysaurus is a primitive genus of pareiasaur that gives an indication to how the pareiasaurs developed. The teeth of Bradysaurus have little in the way of cusps, and are also fairly high crowned. The scutes (osteoderms) in the skin are also not as well developed as those of later forms, which indicates that … Read more
In Depth Nycteroleter is the type genus of the Nycteroleteridae, and is a procolomorph anapsid that lived in Russia during the Permian. Further Reading Some New Permian Reptiles of the USSR. Comptes Rendus (Doklady) de l’Acad�mie des Sciences de l’URSS 19(9):771-776. - I. A. Efremov - 1938. - Anatomy of Emeroleter levis and the Phylogeny … Read more
In Depth For well over a hundred years Proganochelys was regarded as the oldest known turtle, a title the genus held until the 2008 description of Odontochelys, a slightly earlier genus that lived in the Carnian stage of the Triassic. Proganochelys had a developed carapace and plastron, the upper and lower parts of the shell … Read more
In Depth The small size of Elginia is in stark contrast to the larger pareiasaurs such as Scutosaurus. This reduction in size is often considered an adaptation to the harsh conditions of the end of the Permian. Elginia has a number of spikes protruding from its skull, the largest pair rising from the sides at … Read more
In Depth Since it dates from the early Permian, Acleistorhinus is the earliest anapsid known. The teeth are numerous, small and pointed, suggesting that it hunted for insects. Viewed from above, the skull is triangular from the eyes leading to the front tip. The back of the skull is wide resulting in the orbits being … Read more
In Depth The superficial morphology of Milleretta is that of a modern lizard with an array of sharp teeth suited for work on insects. Milleretta is considered an anapsid on the basis that the skull has no openings behind the eye socket. Early study of the skull did reveal two depressions at the back of … Read more