Reptilia - Testudines - Bothremydidae
Etymology. Elkan refers to something that had been hidden in
mapundungun, language spoken by the Mapuche people in Patagonia. This refers to the long time the specimen spent deposited in the Museo Ernesto Bachmann collection (since the 1990s) before being recognized as a new taxon of a clade that still not present in Patagonia horizons until the description of it. Emys means to turtle in Ancient Greek.
Full reference: I. J. Maniel, M. S. de la Fuente, and J. I. Canale. 2021. The first Cearachelyini (Pelomedusoides, Bothremydidae) turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, and an overview of the occurrence and diversity of Pelomedusoides in Patagonia. Cretaceous Research 125:1-13
Parent taxon: Cearachelyini according to I. J. Maniel et al. 2021
Sister taxon: Galianemys
Subtaxa: Elkanemys pritchardi
Type: Elkanemys pritchardi
Ecology: amphibious omnivore
Distribution: found only at South coast of the Lake Ezequiel Ramos Mexia lake (Cretaceous of Argentina)
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.