Puneet Varma (Editor)

Ctenochelys

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Suborder
  
Cryptodira

Clade
  
Panchelonioidea

Rank
  
Genus

Class
  
Reptilia

Clade
  
Americhelydia

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Turtle

Similar
  
Euclastes, Toxochelys, Cratochelone, Glarichelys, Argillochelys

Ctenochelys is an extinct genus of marine turtle (Cryptodira, Cheloniidae), which existed during the Cretaceous period, and lived in the shallow waters of the Western Interior Seaway. Its fossils have been found in the Ripley Formation and Mooreville Chalk of central Alabama, United States. It was first named by C.H. Sternberg in 1904, and contains two species, C. stenoporus and C. acris.

Species

  • Ctenochelys stenoporus is the type species. It was originally thought to be a species of Toxochelys; T. bauri, until Sternberg declared it a separate genus. The two genera are similar in carapaces.
  • Ctenochelys acris was first named by Zangerl in 1953 and is now thought to be one of the earliest ancestors of modern cheloniids.

    • References

    Ctenochelys Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA