New late Cretaceous turtles from the Western Desert, Egypt
Abstract
Late Cretaceous turtle material, excavated in 1979 and 1980 in the Western Desert, Egypt, is described and phylogenetically examined. The turtle association of the Maastrichtian part of the Ammonite Hill Member of the Dakhla Formation comprises at least six taxa. Apart from one undetermined cryptodiran chelonioid specimen, all of them are pleurodiran bothremydid turtles. They include new taxa of three important lineages of the family Bothremydidae. Namely the cosmopolitan Bothremys (Cretaceous) and Taphrosphys (Cretaceous-Tertiary) groups and the Nigeremys group, a group exclusively known from the northern part of Africa at Maastrichtian and possibly at early Paleogene. Therefore, the Egyptian turtles represent the most diverse bothremydid assemblage known so far. The palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical significance of the Maastrichtian turtle fauna of Egypt is emphasized.
- Publication:
-
Annales de paléontologie
- Pub Date:
- 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0753-3969(98)80005-0
- Bibcode:
- 1998AnPal..84..131D