A gigantic bizarre marine turtle (Testudines : Chelonioidea) from the Middle Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of South-western Europe
Castillo-Visa, Oscar (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Hernández Luján, Àngel (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Galobart, Àngel (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Sellés, Albert G. (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Marine turtles were common in the subtropical Upper Cretaceous epi-continental seas that once washed the coasts of the ancient European archipelago. But unlike its contemporaneous faunas from North America, in Europe no taxon surpassed the 1. 5 m shell-length. Here, the remains of a new large marine turtle, Leviathanochelys aenigmatica gen. et sp. nov. , from the Middle Campanian of the Southern Pyrenees are described. Anatomical and histological evidence concur in identifying the specimen as a basal chelonioid. The new taxon autapomorphically differs from other marine turtles by possessing an additional process on the anteromedial side of the pelvis, and an acetabulum directed strongly ventrally. Based on the pelvis size, it is likely that Leviathanochelys was as large as Archelon, thus becoming one of the largest marine turtles found to ever exist. The large body size of the new taxon could have evolved as a response to the unique habitat conditions of the European Cretaceous archipelago seas. The presence of the accessory pubic process further suggests the occurrence of an additional insertion point of the Musculus rectus abdominis, which together with the paleohistologic evidences support the hypothesis that the new taxon had an open marine pelagic lifestyle.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2016-76431-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2016-73230-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2017-82654-P Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2019/BP-00154 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-117289GB-I00
Note:	Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya i 'Xarxes paleocològiques dels jaciments de dinosaures del Cretaci català' ('Paleoecological networks of the dinosaur quarries of the Catalan Cretaceous') CLT/903/2018/67, funded by the Departament de Cultura of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Note:	Altres ajuts: project VIGEOCULT (PLEC2021-00793) funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Evolution ; Palaeontology ; Phylogenetics ; Taxonomy
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 12 (November 2022) , art. 18322, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22619-w
PMID: 36396968

10 p, 5.6 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
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Articles > Published articles