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Hesperotestudo gilbertii
Taxonomy
Testudo gilbertii was named by Hay (1899). Its type specimen is KU 1245, a skull (skull and mandible), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Testudo gilbertii type locality, which is in a Tortonian/Zanclean terrestrial horizon in the Ogallala Formation of Kansas.
It was considered a nomen dubium by Williams (1953), Auffenberg (1963); it was recombined as Hesperotestudo gilbertii by Vlachos (2018).
It was considered a nomen dubium by Williams (1953), Auffenberg (1963); it was recombined as Hesperotestudo gilbertii by Vlachos (2018).
Synonymy list
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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.
†Hesperotestudo gilbertii Hay 1899
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| O. P. Hay 1899 | Mr. J. Z. Gilbert || has described the skull of a species of Testudo from the Loup Fork beds of Kansas and identified it with Prof. Cope's T. undata, described* from the Loup Fork deposits of New Mexico. Since nothing is known of the latter species except a few marginals and a costal bone, there is really no evidence that the fine skull described by Gilbert belongs to T. undata. The probabilities are greater that it belongs to one of the species described by Prof. Copef from the Loup Fork beds of Kansas, Testudo orthopygia and T. cyclopygia. Of T. orthopygia Prof. Cope possessed most of the skeleton including the skull. A comparison of Mr. Gilbert's figures and description with the description of Prof. Cope makes it pretty certain that the former is not identical with T. orthopygia. Of T. cyclopygia the skull is not known, and we have no means of comparing it with Mr. Gilbert's species. This being the case, it
is better, I believe, to give the latter a distinct name, so that its literature may be kept separate until further discoveries demonstrate its relationship to other described forms. I name it in honor of its describer Testudo gilbertii. | |
| E. Vlachos 2018 | Hesperotestudo gilbertii can be diagnosed as a member of Hesperotestudo based on the characters listed for that clade above. Hesperotestudo gilbertii differs from Hesperotestudo osborniana and Hesperotestudo orthopygia in the ventral expansion of the postorbital that divides the jugal and quadratojugal, the longer vomer that divides most of the pterygoids, and in the visibility of the foramen praepalatinum on the ventral part of the premaxillae. Hesperotestudo gilbertii further differs from Hesperotestudo orthopygia in the longer frontals medially and the absence of contact between the parietal and the squamosal. |