''Dorsetochelys'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

of southern England and northwestern Germany.

Taxonomy

The type species, ''Dorsetochelys delairi'', was described on the basis of DORCM G.23, a complete skull from the Early Cretaceous (

Berriasian In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...

)

Purbeck Group The Purbeck Group is an Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in south-east England. The name is derived from the district known as the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset where the strata are exposed in the ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Later, a turtle skull from the vicinity of

Como Bluff Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east–west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, t ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, was described as a new species, ''D. buzzops'', in honor of Buzz Pitman, a museum director of the Rock River Museum near Como Bluff. However, a cladistic analysis conducted in 2013 recovered that species as a member of

Baenidae Baenidae is an extinct family of paracryptodiran turtles known from the Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. While during the Early Cretaceous they are found across North America, during the Late Cretaceous they are only found in Laramidi ...

, sister to ''

Uluops ''Uluops'' is an extinct genus of paracryptodire turtle from the Late Jurassic ( Tithonian) of North America. The type and only species is ''Uluops uluops'', which is known from a single skull from the Morrison Formation. See also * Paleobio ...

''. In 2012, pleurosternid remains were described from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian)

Bückeberg Formation The Bückeberg Formation is a geologic formation and LagerstätteHornung et al., in Reitner et al., 2013, p.75 in Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Berriasian of the Cretaceous period.Hornung et al., 2012 The Bückeberg Formation ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, northwestern Germany, and this prompted a re-assessment of the problematic species ''"Pleurosternon" typocardium'', which had been tentatively referred to ''

Glyptops ''Glyptops'' (Greek for "grooved face") is an extinct genus of pleurosternid freshwater turtle known from the Late Jurassic of North America. Taxonomy The type species, ''Glyptops plicatulus'', was first described as ''Compsemys plicatulus'' by ...

'' by Milner (2004). The new genus ''Ballerstedtia'' was coined for ''"P." typocardium'', and the remains from Lower Saxony were named ''B. bueckergensis''. In a paper published in 2014, ''Ballerstedtia'' was synonymized with ''Dorsetochelys''.A. Perez-Garcia. 2014. Revision of the poorly known Dorsetochelys typocardium, a relatively abundant pleurosternid turtle (Paracryptodira) in the Early Cretaceous of Europe. Cretaceous Research 49:152-162.

References

Pleurosternidae Prehistoric turtle genera Late Jurassic turtles Early Cretaceous turtles Late Jurassic reptiles of Europe Early Cretaceous reptiles of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1976 {{paleo-turtle-stub