Toxochelys Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
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Fossil specimen, Houston Museum of Natural Science | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Testudines |
Suborder: | Cryptodira |
Clade: | Panchelonioidea |
Family: | †Toxochelyidae Baur, 1895 |
Genus: | †Toxochelys Cope, 1873 |
Species | |
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Toxochelys (/toʊxʌkɛliːz/) is an extinct genus of marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous period. It is the most commonly found fossilized turtle species in the Smoky Hill Chalk, in western Kansas.[1]
Toxochelys had carapace about 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) in length.[2] Two species in the genus are recognized, Toxochelys latiremis and Toxochelys moorevillensis.[3] Phylogenetic analysis shows that Toxochelys belong to an extinct lineage of turtles transitional between modern sea turtles and other turtles.[4]
Toxochelys bauri Williston, 1905, based on the skeleton YPM 1786, is a synonym of Ctenochelys stenoporus.[5]