Pleurosternidae is an extinct family of freshwater

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 ...

s belonging to

Paracryptodira __NOTOC__ Paracryptodira is an extinct group of reptiles in the clade Testudinata (which contains modern turtles and their extinct relatives), known from the Jurassic to Paleogene of North America and Europe. Initially treated as a suborder siste ...

. They are definitively known from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

) of Western Europe and North America.

Genera

Valid taxa

*''

Dinochelys ''Dinochelys'' (from Greek ''deinos'' -terrible- and ''chelys'' -turtle) is an extinct genus of paracryptodiran turtle from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. See also * Paleobiota of the Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a di ...

'' Morrison Formation, United States, Late Jurassic (

Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the K ...

) *''

Dorsetochelys ''Dorsetochelys'' is an extinct genus of turtle from the Early Cretaceous 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 E ...

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 ...

, England, 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 ...

)

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 ...

, Germany, Berriasian *''

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 ...

'' Morrison Formation, United States, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) *'' Pleurosternon'' Purbeck Group, England, Early Cretaceous (Berriasian), Ágreda locality, Spain, Tithonian-Berriasian, France, Tithonian-Berriasian *'' Riodevemys''

Villar del Arzobispo Formation The Villar del Arzobispo Formation is a Late Jurassic to possibly Early Cretaceous geologic formation in eastern Spain. It is equivalent in age to the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal. It was originally thought to date from the Late Tithonian-Middl ...

, Spain, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) *''

Selenemys ''Selenemys'' is an extinct genus of pleurosternid turtle from the Late Jurassic of Central West of Portugal. It is known from several specimens recovered from the Lusitanian Basin, dating to the upper Kimmeridgian age. It was one of the earli ...

Lourinhã Formation The Lourinhã Formation () is a fossil rich geological formation in western Portugal, named for the municipality of Lourinhã. The formation is mostly Late Jurassic in age (Kimmeridgian/Tithonian), with the top of the formation extending into the ...

, Portugal, Late Jurassic (

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

) *'' Toremys'' Escucha Formation, Spain, Early Cretaceous (

) ''

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 ...

'' from the Late Jurassic of North America may also belong to Pleurosternidae.

Invalid taxa

* '' Desmemys'' Bückeberg Formation, Germany, Berriasian (''nomen dubium'')

Ecology

The high morphological diversity of skulls of the group suggests high ecological plasticity. ''Glyptops'' and ''Pleurosternon'' exhibit adaptions likely for

suction feeding Aquatic feeding mechanisms face a special difficulty as compared to feeding on land, because the density of water is about the same as that of the prey, so the prey tends to be pushed away when the mouth is closed. This problem was first identifi ...

, while ''Dorsteochelys'' was likely a dietary generalist.

References

Prehistoric reptile families Late Jurassic turtles Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope {{Paleo-turtle-stub