Descripción preliminar del esqueleto apendicular de la tortuga Neochelys salmanticensis de la Cuenca del Duero en el Turtle Evolution Symposium 2024

En el congreso Turtle Symposium Evolution recientemente celebrado en la Universidad de Friburgo (Suiza) se ha presentado una charla sobre la descripción preliminar del esqueleto apendicular de la tortuga Neochelys salmanticensis de la Cuenca del Duero (España). En el caso del género Neochelys, solo una especie, Neochelys franzeni de Messel (Alemania), presenta elementos de su esqueleto apendicular pobremente figurado. Se ha comparado el esqueleto apendicular de Neochelys salmanticensis con otras especies de su misma familia, Podocnemididae, y se han realizado comparaciones entre adultos y juveniles para determinar diferencias ontogenéticas.

The Eocene record of vertebrates from the Duero Basin (northwestern Spain) is abundant and diverse. Several clades of turtles are recognized, highlighting, for its abundance and diversity, the podocnemidids. Two species of the European genus Neochelys have been identified. The first species described was Neochelys salmanticensis, exclusive from the Bartonian (middle Eocene) of the Salamanca Province. It is the youngest known representative of this diverse genus. For more than 50 years Neochelys salmanticensis was based on scarce material, which did not allow an adequate diagnosis. Recently, hundreds of remains (including articulated and relatively complete shells) were analysed, allowing a detailed shell characterization. Although the shell is the only element recognized in all Neochelys representatives, such a large collection has never been documented for any other species. All published information on this Spanish species is restricted to its shell. Abundant and well-preserved appendicular remains of Neochelys salmanticensis have been identified, both from the type locality and at other sites, including more than one hundred bones. As with the shell remains, the collection of appendicular bones is much larger than in any other documented representative of the genus and includes elements unknown in most other species. We present a preliminary study of the morphology of the appendicular elements of this species, based on both remains of relatively complete skeletons and isolated bones from different ontogenetic stages. Since Neochelys salmanticensis is the largest representative of the genus, morphological differences from other Neochelys species with documented appendicular bones are to be expected.

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Más información:

• Referencia: Gutiérrez-Gálvez, M., Ortega, F., Martín de Jesús, S., Pérez-García, A. 2024. Preliminary morphological study of the appendicular skeleton of the Spanish Bartonian (middle Eocene) Neochelys salmanticensis (Pleurodira; Podocnemididae). In: Evers, S. W., Joyce, W. G., Rollot, Y. (Eds.). Abstracts book of the Symposium on Turtle Evolution: 10.