''Tacuarembemys'' ("Tacuarembó turtle") is an extinct genus of continental turtle from South America. It contains a single species, ''T. kusterae''. The genus was described based on the external mold of a carapace and associated shell bone fragments found near the city of

Tacuarembó Tacuarembó ( Guarani: ''Takuarembo'', literally: "Bamboo shoot") is the capital city of the Tacuarembó Department in north-central Uruguay. Location and geography The city is located on Km. 390 of Route 5, south-southwest of Rivera, the c ...

, Uruguay. This fossil was found on the Tacuarembó Formation, whose estimated age ranges from late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous. It is the first turtle to be discovered in South American continental deposits of that age, and shows a unique combination of traits (shared and derived), who allows the recognition of this fossil as a new genus. Despite that, more remains are needed to clarify its phylogenetic relationships. The estimated length of carapace is 18 cm. The histology of its plates, a shell that is dorsoventrally low, and the paleoenvironment proposed for the

Tacuarembó Formation The Tacuarembó Formation is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation of the eponymous department in northern Uruguay. The fluvial to lacustrine sandstones, siltstones and mudstones preserve ichnofossils, turtles, crocodylomorphs, fish a ...

(permanent and temporary streams and lakes), support the ecology of this genus as semiaquatic and mainly aquatic turtles.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q63951876 Prehistoric turtles Late Jurassic turtles Early Cretaceous turtles Early Cretaceous reptiles of South America Late Jurassic reptiles of South America Jurassic Uruguay Fossils of Uruguay Fossil taxa described in 2014