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Meiolania platyceps

Reptilia - Meiolaniidae

Taxonomy

Meiolania platyceps was named by Owen (1886). Its type specimen is BMNH R675, a partial skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Lord Howe Island (Meiolania Old Collection), which is in a Pleistocene terrestrial horizon in Australia.

Synonyms

Meiolania minor was named by Owen (1886). Its type specimen is BMNH uncat., a partial skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Lord Howe Island (Meiolania Old Collection), which is in a Pleistocene terrestrial horizon in Australia.

It was synonymized subjectively with Meiolania platyceps by Woodward (1888), Lydekker (1889), Sterli (2015) and Rhodin et al. (2015).
Ceratochelys sthenurus was named by Huxley (1887). Its type specimen is BMNH R675, a partial skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Lord Howe Island (Meiolania Old Collection), which is in a Pleistocene terrestrial horizon in Australia.

It was synonymized objectively with Meiolania platyceps by Sterli (2015) and Rhodin et al. (2015).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1886	Miolania platyceps Owen pp. 160-161 figs. plate 30, fig. 1
1886	Meiolania minor Owen p. 316
1886	Meiolania platyceps Owen p. 316 figs. plate 30, fig. 1
1887	Ceratochelys sthenurus Huxley p. 236237
1889	Miolania platyceps Lydekker pp. 160-166
2008	Meiolania platyceps Danilov and Parham
2011	Meiolania platyceps Pérez-García and Ortega
2013	Meiolania platyceps Pérez-García and Murelaga
2015	Meiolania platyceps Rhodin et al.
2015	Meiolania platyceps Sterli p. 37

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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
—	Reptiliomorpha

Rank	Name	Author
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
—	Testudinata	(Oppel 1811)
—	Perichelydia
—	Meiolaniformes
family	Meiolaniidae	Lydekker 1887
genus	Meiolania
species	platyceps

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.

†Meiolania platyceps Owen 1886

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Invalid names: Ceratochelys sthenurus Huxley 1887 [objective synonym], Meiolania minor Owen 1886 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
J. Sterli 2015	Meiolania platyceps shares with other members of the clade Meiolania the presence of recurved B horns and the absence of a continuous shelf formed by scutes A, B and C. Meiolania platyceps is differentiated from Me. brevicollis and Me. mackayi by the presence of a relatively wider horn core B, the presence of a parasagittal ridge on the premaxillary triturating surface and the absence of ventral keels in cervical vertebrae 5 and 6. Meiolania platyceps is differentiated from Me. brevicollis by the higher angle of the posterior projection of the horn core B, the larger horn core A, the relatively longer, lower and wider cervical vertebrae and the relatively low and flat neural spine of the axis. Meiolania platyceps is differentiated from Me. mackayi by the presence of relatively more robust limb bones. Meiolania platyceps is about 30% larger than Me. mackayi and about 10% to 20% smaller than Me. brevicollis.