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Platychelys oberndorferi

Reptilia - Testudines

Discussion

From Cadena and Joyce 2015: According to Wagner (1853), the holotype of Platychelys oberndorferi was part of the collection of Dr. Oberndorfer of Kelheim, Germany. This specimen was transferred to Munich in 1866 (Zittel 1877), where it was studied by Maack (1869), Rütimeyer (1873) and Oertel (1915). Currently, the holotype is not to be found at the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie. It likely was destroyed during a World War II air raid that effaced much of the collections of Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie (Wellnhofer 1967). Although the holotype is now lost, it is well figured (Wagner 1853, pl. 1; Meyer 1860, pl. 18.4) and the application of the name Platychelys oberndorferi is uncontroversial. We therefore see no need for the designation of a neotype.

Taxonomy
Platychelys oberndorferi was named by Wagner (1853). Its type specimen is BSPG lost, a shell (carapace and plastron), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Compsognathus type, Kapfelberg (BSP), which is in a Kimmeridgian lagoonal/restricted shallow subtidal limestone in the Painten Formation of Germany.

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1853Platychelys oberndorferi Wagner p. 242 figs. plate 1
1889Platychelys oberndorferi Lydekker pp. 216-217 fig. 48
2006Platychelys oberndorferi Gaffney et al. p. 26
2008Platychelys oberndorferi Danilov and Parham
2013Platychelys oberndorferi Cadena et al. p. 114
2014Platychelys oberndorferi Perea et al.
2014Platychelys oberndorferi Puntener et al.
2015Platychelys oberndorferi Cadena and Joyce p. 14

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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)
orderTestudinesBatsch 1788
—Panpleurodira
—Platychelyidae
genusPlatychelys
speciesoberndorferi

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.

†Platychelys oberndorferi Wagner 1853
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
E. Cadena and W. G. Joyce 2015Platychelys oberndorferi can be diagnosed as a panpleurodire and a platychelyid by the full list of apomorphies listed above. Platychelys oberndorferi is currently differentiated from Notoemys by the presence of a strongly sculpted carapace with a serrated margin and high medial and lateral knobs with strong serrations, relatively narrow, rectangular vertebrals, supramarginals, a supracaudal scute, relatively narrow neurals, an iliac scar that extends onto the peripherals and pygals, by lacking apparent suprapygal elements.