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Saxochelys gilberti

Reptilia - Baenidae

Discussion

The eponym gilberti is named for S. F. Gilbert, mentor and friend to T. R. Lyson.

Taxonomy
Saxochelys gilberti was named by Lyson et al. (2019). Its type specimen is DMNH EPV.96000, a skull (an articulated skull, mandible, and hyoid apparatus), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Turtle Ridge locality, which is in a Maastrichtian terrestrial horizon in the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota. It is the type species of Saxochelys.

Synonymy list
YearName and author
2019Saxochelys gilberti Lyson et al. fig. 2

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
RankNameAuthor
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
classReptilia
—Testudinata(Oppel 1811)
—Paracryptodira
familyBaenidaeCope 1882
—BaenoddaGaffney and Meylan 1988
genusSaxochelys
speciesgilberti

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.

†Saxochelys gilberti Lyson et al. 2019
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
T. R. Lyson et al. 2019Saxochelys gilberti is differentiated from all other baenids based on the following unique combination of characters: presence of a nuchal scale, finely sculptured shell (glyptopsid-like, but not as pronounced), absence of an omega-shaped femoral-anal sulcus presence of an omega-shaped extragular-humeral sulcus, cavum tympani that are relatively smaller than the diameter of the orbit, presence of a robust single scale on the posteromedial portion of the parietals, jugal exclusion from the orbital margin, and an unusually long tail composed of 29 caudal vertebrae.
Measurements
No measurements are available
Composition: phosphaticsubp
Environment: terrestrialuc
Locomotion: actively mobilec
Created: 2017-04-17 15:15:35
Modified: 2017-04-17 15:15:35
Source: c = class, subp = subphylum, uc = unranked clade
References: Carroll 1988, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range: base of the Late/Upper Maastrichtian to the top of the Puercan or 70.60000 to 63.30000 Ma

Collections (3 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Late/Upper Maastrichtian70.6 - 66.0USA (North Dakota) Saxochelys gilberti (type locality: 141582)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian70.6 - 66.0USA (South Dakota) Saxochelys gilberti (224484)
Puercan66.0 - 63.3USA (North Dakota) Saxochelys gilberti (141585)