Nuevos datos sobre el cráneo de Algorachelus en el XIX Annual Meeting de la EAVP

Como hemos indicado hace unos días en este blog, recientemente se celebró, en Italia, el 19 congreso internacional de la European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists (EAVP). Entre los trabajos allí presentados se incluye uno que presenta nuevos datos sobre las tortugas de la localidad cenomaniense de Algora (Guadalajara). Su título es: “Cranial anatomy of the Iberian cenomanian bothremydid turtle Algorachelus peregrina”. Su resumen es el siguiente:

The European bothremydid turtle Algorachelus peregrina (Bothremydini) is one of the oldest representatives of the crown Pleurodira known in Laurasia. The species has been identified in several Iberian Cenomanian outcrops, both in Portugal and in Spain. A partial shell of a single individual has been found in most of these sites. By contrast, hundreds of remains, attributable to dozens of individuals, have been identified at its type locality: the uppermost middle or lowermost upper Cenomanian site of Algora (Guadalajara Province, Central Spain). In fact, Algora have provided the largest concentration of vertebrate macroremains for the Cenomanian of south-western Europe so far known, this turtle being the most abundant taxon there. Numerous plates of Algorachelus peregrina from Algora have been analyzed so far, in addition to several complete or almost complete shells, not only providing detailed information about its shell anatomy, but also about its intraspecific variability. Several appendicular elements are also known. However, the cranial information so far available are exclusively based on a partial skull. A complete and very well-preserved skull from Algora is here presented. Both the previously known partial skull and the new complete one have been scanned. The three-dimensional reconstruction of each skull, as well as that of each of the bones that compose them, has been carried out. Thus, the detailed anatomy of the skull of Algorachelus peregrina can be characterized. This allows us to noticeably improve the encoding of the species in the data matrices and, therefore, to provide new information about its phylogenetic position.

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Más información:

• Referencia: Pérez-García, A., Martín-Jiménez, M. 2022. Cranial anatomy of the Iberian cenomanian bothremydid turtle Algorachelus peregrina. Abstract book of the 19th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists: 156.