Una de las tortugas con mejor registro para el Mesozoico de Europa es Algorachelus. Esta forma fue definida en el centro de España, en la localidad de Algora, en Guadalajara. Su presencia ha sido posteriormente documentada en varias localidades ibéricas, tanto en España como en Portugal. Además, actualmente sabemos que este género vivió también en Estados Unidos. Aunque se había propuesto que Algorachelus podría estar presente el Oriente Próximo, hasta ahora esta hipótesis no había sido adecuadamente justificada. El análisis de varios especímenes de tortugas pleurodiras procedentes del registro cenomaniense (base del Cretácico Superior) de Israel ha sido presentado en las recientemente celebradas XXXIX Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología, mediante una comunicación oral cuyo título es “New data on the bothremydid turtle from the Cenomanian of the Middle East”. El resumen de este estudio es el siguiente:
The current biogeographic distribution of pleurodiran turtles is restricted to intertropical regions. This is because they require warm climatic conditions. However, the fossil record allows to recognize that the biogeographical distribution of this lineage was much broader in past periods with warm global temperatures. In this sense, these turtles lived in Europe during different geological stages, becoming very abundant and diverse there. The lineage of Pleurodira recognized as the most successful on this continent is Bothremydidae. It is identified as the earliest to disperse from Gondwanan areas to the northern continents. The oldest bothremydid known in Laurasia is Algorachelus. This genus is identified in the Cenomanian record of the Middle East, Europe, and North America. A different species is identified in each of these regions. Although the oldest identified species of Algorachelus was that from Israel, information about it was, until now, extremely limited. It was erected in the 1970s, when the species was erroneously attributed to another lineage of pleurodiran turtles (i.e., Podocnemididae), being originally attributed to the exclusively South American genus Podocnemis. The detailed revision of the classical material of this species (i.e., Algorachelus parva) is carried out here, numerous anatomical details misinterpreted almost 50 years ago being amended. In addition, new, well-preserved specimens are identified and analyzed. As a result, knowledge about this species of great paleobiogeographic relevance is significantly increased.
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