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Paleogene Turtles of Crimea

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Abstract

This paper describes remains of fossil turtles from five Paleogene localities of Crimea. Two are Danian (Ak-Kaya 2 and Sakharnaya Golovka) and three are Bartonian (Ak-Kaya 1, Bakhchisarai and Prolom). The best studied turtle fauna comes from the Ak-Kaya 1 locality and includes three taxa: marine Argillochelys sp. (Cheloniidae) and Cosmochelys sp. (Dermochelyidae), and an unidentified soft-shelled turtle (Trionychidae indet.). Argillochelys sp. shows similarities with Argillochelys antiqua (König, 1825) from the Eocene of Europe. The new data expands our knowledge of intraspecific variability and the distribution of turtles of the genera Argillochelys and Cosmochelys. Unidentified cheloniids (Bakhchisarai, Prolom, and Sakharnaya Golovka), dermochelyids (Bakhchisarai and Prolom) and trionychids (Ak-Kaya 2 and Prolom) are described from other Paleogene localities of Crimea.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank N.I. Udovichenko, A.F. Bannikov, N.K. Gor, and Yu.O. Zhukov for providing fossil material collected by them; V.A Musatov for identifying the geological age of the localitys, R. Hirayama for providing photographs of Argillochelys spp. from the collections of NHM and IRSNB, and the anonymous reviewer for comments that helped us improve the article.

The work was performed in the framework of the theme of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences no. AAAA-A17-117030310017-8.

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  1. Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University, 91000, Luhansk, Ukraine

    E. A. Zvonok

  2. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

    I. G. Danilov

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Translated by D. Ponomarenko

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Zvonok, E.A., Danilov, I.G. Paleogene Turtles of Crimea. Paleontol. J. 53, 62–73 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103011901012X

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