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 t ...

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 sist ...

. 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 ...

) of Western Europe and North America.

Genera

Valid taxa

*'' Dinochelys'' Morrison Formation, United States, Late Jurassic ( Tithonian) *''

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, England, Early Cretaceous ( Berriasian) Bückeberg Formation, Germany, Berriasian *'' Glyptops'' 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''

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 Oxford ...

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

) '' Uluops'' 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