Bothremydidae



family Bothremydidae, Baur 1891 (sideneck turtle)
Reptilia - Testudines
Since the first study of Moroccan fossil turtles, and the up-dated overview by Lapparent de Broin of Moroccan fossil turtles, abundant new material has been obtained from the Maastrichtian to the Ypresian phosphatic basins of Morocco. Phosphate turtles belong to the two major groups of extant turtles: Pleurodira, mostly represented by the fossil Bothremydidae (more than ten Palaeogene different genera), and Cryptodira, represented by a Maastrichtian “Dermochelyidae” indet., and fossil cheloniids: Tasbacka ouledabdounensis Tong & Hirayama, 2002, ThanetianArgillochelys africana Tong & Hirayama, 2008, Ypresian and “Euclastes group” elements, including “Aff. Rhetechelys sp.” estimated as Maastrichtian in age and two Palaeocene
species recently attributed to Euclastes wielandi. We also find in the Early Paleocene the genus Brachyopsemys tingitana. A Giant Chelonioid Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco with a suction feeding apparatus uinique among tetrapods (Ocepechelon bouyai) is recently described.
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