Macrochelys

Macrochelys
Alligator snapping turtle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Chelydridae
Genus: Macrochelys
Gray, 1856[1]

Macrochelys is a genus in the family Chelydridae. It consists of three extant species: Macrochelys temminckii, Macrochelys suwanniensis, and Macrochelys apalachicolae[2][3] and the extinct M. schmidti and M. auffenbergi (described from the early middle Miocene of Nebraska and the middle Pliocene of Florida, respectively). The genus was considered monospecific until a 2014 study by Travis Thomas divided it into three separate species.[4]

Fossil history

Unlike the family Chelydridae as a whole, the genus Macrochelys is exclusively North American. Hutchison (2008) considered genus Chelydrops to be a junior synonym of Macrochelys, and recombined its type species, Chelydrops stricta from the Miocene (early Barstovian) of Nebraska, as the (then) fourth species of Macrochelys.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Rhodin, Anders G.J.; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Inverson, John B.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Roger, Bour (2012-12-31). "Turtles of the world, 2012 update: Annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution and conservation status". Chelonian Research Monographs 5: 000.251. doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v5.2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-04.
  2. ↑ Thomas, T, Granatosky, M, Bourque, J, Krysko, K, Moler, P, Gamble, T, Suarez, Leone, E, Enge, K, & Roman, J, 2014. Taxonomic assessment of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Chelydridae: Macrochelys), with the description of two new species from the southeastern United States. Zootaxa 3786 (2): 141–165
  3. ↑ Joshua E. Brown (April 24, 2014). "Research splits alligator snapping turtle, 'dinosaur of the turtle world,' into three species". Phys.org.
  4. ↑ John R. Platt (April 17, 2014). "Alligator Snapping Turtles, the Dinosaurs of the Turtle World, Are Actually 3 at-Risk Species". Scientific American.
  5. ↑ J. Howard Hutchison (2008). "History of fossil Chelydridae". In A.C. Styermark, M.S. Finkler, R.J. Brooks. Biology of the Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 14–30.