Araripemys barretoi: Paleoecological analysis of a pelomedusoid Chelonia from the Lower Cretaceous of Araripe and Parnaíba basins, Brazil
Abstract
It is investigated the paleoecology of Araripemys barretoi Price, 1973 a pelomedusoid turtle from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of Araripe and Parnaíba basins, Brazil. The analysis of forelimbs proportions allowed to interpret Araripemys barretoi as a turtle with a specialized morphology to live in large water bodies, as an agile swimmer. Several postcranial anatomical features suggest that Araripemys barretoi was able to live in aquatic environments of distinct magnitudes. This species was abundant throughout the Aptian in the Araripe and Parnaíba basins, where an epicontinental sea once existed, during the first marine ingressions related to the Equatorial Atlantic opening.
- Publication:
-
Cretaceous Research
- Pub Date:
- August 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105503
- Bibcode:
- 2023CrRes.14805503B
- Keywords:
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- Pelomedusoids;
- Itapecuru Formation;
- Romualdo and Crato formations;
- Aptian;
- Brazil