Las tortugas de Algora en el XVI Annual Meeting de la EAVP

Como fue indicado aquí, varios investigadores del Grupo de Biología Evolutiva de la UNED defendieron algunos de sus trabajos recientes en el XVI encuentro anual de la EAVP (European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists), celebrado hace unos días en la localidad portuguesa de Caparica.

Uno de estos trabajos aludía a los resultados recientemente obtenidos en relación a los proyectos de investigación en proceso sobre la fauna del yacimiento de Algora (Guadalajara) y, más específicamente, en aquellos centrados en los nuevos datos sobre Algorachelus, el taxón más común en ese yacimiento.

El resumen es el siguiente:

Several Gondwana lineages of the crown Pleurodira reached Europe through diachronic Mesozoic and Cenozoic dispersion events. The oldest pleurodiran turtle known in Laurasia is the Bothremydid Algorachelus peregrinus. It was defined in the uppermost middle-lowermost upper Cenomanian site of Algora (Guadalajara, Central Spain), having subsequently been recognized in the middle Cenomanian locality of Nazaré (Central Portugal).
The first systematic excavation of relatively long duration carried out in Algora has recently been performed. As a consequence, abundant material of Algorachelus peregrinus was found. The new material analyzed here corresponds to several complete or almost complete and very well-preserved shells, including the most complete, as well as abundant articulated remains of both the carapace and the plastron. The abundance of remains allows the analysis of the general disarticulation patterns experienced by the shells of this littoral form. This study also allows the identification and characterization of several pathologies. In addition, it also improves the knowledge about the anatomy and intraspecific variability of this form.
This new information allows the evaluation of the validity of other Cenomanian bothremydids, both from Middle East and from North America. Thus, Algorachelus is identified in these regions, being represented in both the early or middle Cenomanian of Palestine, and in the uppermost Cenomanian of Utah. A different species is identified in each of the three continents where the genus Algorachelus is identified. Therefore, close biogeographical relationships are recognized, evidencing a relative fast dispersal event, corresponding to the oldest identified for a Gondwanic lineage of Pleurodira in Laurasia.

Esta presentación está relacionada con un trabajo de reciente publicación y que fue comentado aquí.

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Más información:

• Referencia: Pérez-García, A. 2018. Identification of the European Cenomanian bothremydid turtle Algorachelus in Middle East and North America. XVI Annual Meeting of European Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists, Abstract Book. 151.