Testudines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Turtles Fossil range: Late Triassic - Recent |
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 "Chelonia" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
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| Diversity | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 extant families with ca. 300 species | ||||||||||||||||
 blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles
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| Suborders | ||||||||||||||||
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Cryptodira |
Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins are ectothermic reptiles, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony or cartilagenous shell developed from their ribs. They belong to an anapsid lineage, as can be seen from their solid skullcap. About 300 species are alive today; some are highly endangered.
The order to which the turtles belong is usually called Testudines. Sometimes Chelonia is given as a junior synonym, but this is strictly speaking incorrect. For most purposes, the differences are minor however: The Chelonia are simply the Testudines plus the "proto-turtle" Australochelys africanus, a turtlelike anapsid from the Jurassic which lacked some of the Testudines' apomorphies. The oldest fossils of the Testudines actually predate Australochelys. They are the basal turtle genus Proganochelys[1] which lived in Late Triassic Eurasia about 210 million years ago, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups, and a much more ancient group than lizards and snakes.
Contents |
[edit] Systematics[2]
[edit] Basal chelonians
- Genus Australochelys (basal Chelonia)
- Genus Proganochelys (basal Testudines)
[edit] Suborder Cryptodira
Basal genera
- Genus Kayentachelys
- Genus Indochelys
Infraorder †Paracryptodira
- Basal and incertae sedis
- Family †Kallokibotiidae
- Family †Mongolochelyidae
- Family †Pleurosternidae
- Family †Solemydidae
- Superfamily †Baenoidea
- Family †Baenidae
- Family †Macrobaenidae
- Family †Neurankylidae
Infraorder Eucryptodira
- †"Sinemys" wuerhoensis
- Genus †Chubutemys (Meiolaniidae?)
- Genus †Hangaiemys (Macrobaenidae?)
- Genus †Judithemys
- Genus †Osteopygis
- Genus †Planetochelys
- Family Chelydridae (snapping turtles)
- Family †Eurysternidae
- Family †Macrobaenidae
- Family †Meiolaniidae (horned turtles)
- Family †Plesiochelyidae
- Family †Sinemydidae
- Family †Xinjiangchelyidae
- Superfamily Chelonioidea (sea turtles)
- Family †Protostegidae
- Family †Thalassemyidae
- Family †Toxochelyidae
- Family Cheloniidae (green sea turtles and relatives)
- Family Dermochelyidae (leatherback turtles)
- Superfamily Testudinoidea
- Family †Haichemydidae
- Family †Lindholmemydidae
- Family †Sinochelyidae
- Family Platysternidae (big-headed turtle)
- Family Emydidae (pond, box and water turtles)
- Family Geoemydidae (Asian river turtles, Asian leaf turtles, Asian box turtles and roofed turtles)
- Family Testudinidae (tortoises)
- Superfamily Trionychoidea
- Family †Adocidae
- Family Carettochelyidae (pignose turtles)
- Family Dermatemydidae (river turtles)
- Family Kinosternidae (mud turtles)
- Family Trionychidae (softshell turtles)
[edit] Suborder Pleurodira
Basal and incertae sedis
- Family †Araripemydidae
- Family †Proterochersidae
- Family Chelidae (Austro-American sideneck turtles)
Superfamily Pelomedusoidea
- Family †Bothremydidae
- Family Pelomedusidae (African sideneck turtles)
- Family Podocnemididae (Madagascan big-headed and American sideneck river turtles)
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Haaramo, Mikko (2008): Mikko's Phylogeny Archive - Hallucicrania. Version of 2008-MAR-11. Retrieved 2008-MAY-07.
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