PBDB Taxon

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Platychelys

Reptilia - Testudines

Taxonomy

Platychelys was named by Wagner (1853). It is the type genus of Platychelyidae.

It was assigned to Paludinosa by Quenstedt (1882); to Baenidae by Cope (1884); to Pleurosternidae by Lydekker (1889) and Delair (1958); to Pleurodira by de la Fuente and Iturralde-Vinent (2001) and Joyce et al. (2004); to Panpleurodira by Danilov and Parham (2008), Anquetin et al. (2009) and Anquetin (2012); to Platychelira by Cadena et al. (2013); to Testudines by Joyce (2007), Perea et al. (2014) and Puntener et al. (2014); to Platychelyidae by Cadena and Joyce (2015); and to Platychelyidae by Bräm (1965), Carroll (1988), Cadena Rueda and Gaffney (2005), Gaffney et al. (2006), de la Fuente et al. (2014) and Sullivan and Joyce (2017).

Species

Helemys, Helemys serrata, P. courrenti, P. oberndorferi

Sister genera

Helemys

Synonyms

Helemys was named by Rutimeyer (1859).

It was synonymized subjectively with Platychelys by Bräm (1965); it was considered a nomen nudum by Cadena and Joyce (2015).

It was assigned to Emydidae by Rütimeyer (1873).
Platychelys courrenti was named by Bergounioux (1935).

It was considered a nomen nudum by Cadena and Joyce (2015).
Helemys serrata was named by Rutimeyer (1859).

It was synonymized subjectively with Platychelys oberndorferi by Bräm (1965); it was considered a nomen nudum by Cadena and Joyce (2015).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1853	Platychelys Wagner figs. Plate 1
1859	Helemys Rutimeyer
1859	Helemys serrata Rutimeyer
1873	Helemys Rütimeyer p. 48
1882	Platychelys Quenstedt p. 152
1884	Platychelys Cope
1889	Platychelys Lydekker p. 216
1935	Platychelys courrenti Bergounioux
1958	Platychelys Delair p. 50
1965	Platychelys Bräm p. 12
1988	Platychelys Carroll
2001	Platychelys de la Fuente and Iturralde-Vinent
2004	Platychelys Joyce et al.
2005	Platychelys Cadena Rueda and Gaffney
2006	Platychelys Gaffney et al. p. 31
2007	Platychelys Joyce
2008	Platychelys Danilov and Parham
2009	Platychelys Anquetin et al.
2012	Platychelys Anquetin p. 34 fig. 10
2013	Platychelys Cadena et al. p. 114 fig. 8.5
2014	Platychelys Perea et al.
2014	Platychelys Puntener et al.
2014	Platychelys de la Fuente et al.
2015	Platychelys Cadena and Joyce
2017	Platychelys Sullivan and Joyce

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda

Rank	Name	Author
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
—	Testudinata	(Oppel 1811)
order	Testudines	Batsch 1788
—	Panpleurodira
—	Platychelyidae
genus	Platychelys

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Platychelys Wagner 1853

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†Platychelys oberndorferi Wagner 1853

Invalid names: Helemys Rutimeyer 1859 [nomen nudum], Helemys serrata Rutimeyer 1859 [nomen nudum], Platychelys courrenti Bergounioux 1935 [nomen nudum]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

lagoonal, coastal, brackish, freshwaterg

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Comments:

From Cadena and Joyce (2015): The available taphonomic, paleoenvironmental, morphological and bone microstructural evidence therefore supports the conclusion that platychelyids were inhabitants of shallow waters with a certain tolerance or preference for brackish to salty waters. However, even those forms that preferred marine habitats were certainly restricted to lagoon areas, as the limbs of these relatively small turtles were only poorly adapted to open marine conditions. This tolerance of marine conditions, however, most certainly helped platychelyids to disperse along coastlines and among the continents during the early breakup of Pangaea.g

Created:

2017-04-29 07:42:08

Modified:

2017-04-29 07:42:08

Source: g = genus, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Hendy et al. 2009, Carroll 1988, Cadena and Joyce 2015

Age range: base of the Late/Upper Kimmeridgian to the top of the Early/Lower Tithonian or 155.70000 to 145.00000 Ma

Collections (4 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Kimmeridgian	157.3 - 152.1	Portugal (Leiria)	P. sp. (24563)
Late/Upper Kimmeridgian	155.7 - 150.8	Germany (Bayern)	P. oberndorferi (57682)
Late/Upper Kimmeridgian	155.7 - 150.8	Switzerland (Solothurn)	P. oberndorferi (137749)
Early/Lower Tithonian	150.8 - 145.0	Germany (Bavaria)	P. oberndorferi (58604)