''Solemys'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of helyochelydrid

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

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

known from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

(late Campanian-early Maastrichtian) of southern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and eastern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Taxonomy

Two species are known, the type species ''Solemys gaudryi'' (Matheron, 1869) and ''S. vermiculata'' de Lapparent de Broin and Murelaga, 1996. The former was originally assigned to the Cenozoic turtle genus ''Apholidemys'' by Matheron (1869), but de Lapparent de Broin and Murelaga (1996) recognized it as a stem turtle distinct from ''Apholidemys'' and renamed it ''Solemys''. The following cladogram displays the phylogenetic relationships of ''Solemys'' according to Tong et. al. 2023:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q85801922 Fossil taxa described in 1996 Late Cretaceous turtles Prehistoric turtle genera Helochelydridae