''Rosasia'' is an extinct

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 ...

bothremydid Bothremydidae is an extinct family of side-necked turtles (Pleurodira) known from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. They are closely related to Podocnemididae, and are amongst the most widely distributed pleurodire groups, with their fossils having be ...

pleurodiran The Pleurodira are one of the two living suborders of turtles, the other being the Cryptodira. The division between these two suborders represents a very deep evolutionary divide between two very different types of turtles. The physical differen ...

turtle that was discovered in the Argilas de Aveiro Formation of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The genus consists of a single species, ''R. soutoi'', named after Alberto Souto.

Description

''Rosasia'' is distinguished by a skull with a moderately obtuse V-shape, less so than in '' Bothremys cooki''. The orbits are less reduced than ''Bothremys'', though the external nostril is unusually narrow for the group. The maxillae are greatly enlarged, and there is a strong ventral expansion of the quadratojugal. The first vertebra of the carapace largelyu covers the entire nuchal, as in ''Bothremys parva''. The vertebrae themselves are relatively narrow.

Taxonomy

In a provisional phylogeny, Antunes & Broin (1988) classified ''Rosasia'' as the sister genus to ''

Bothremys ''Bothremys'' is an extinct genus of bothremydid pleurodiran turtle that was discovered near Gloucester, New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north ...

''. A 2016 paper by Carvalho ''et al'' recovered ''Rosasia sotoui'' as the sister taxon of the newly described '' Inaechelys pernambucensis''; a few months later, another paper synonymized the two genera, with ''Rosasia'' taking precedent.

References

Prehistoric turtle genera Late Cretaceous turtles Fossils of Portugal Bothremydidae Maastrichtian life Campanian life Cretaceous Europe Fossil taxa described in 1940 {{paleo-turtle-stub