Carettochelyidae

Carettochelyidae is a family of cryptodiran turtles belonging to the Trionychia. It contains only a single living species, the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) native to New Guinea and Northern Australia. Stem-group carettochelyids are known from the Cretaceous of Asia, with the family being widely distributed across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa during much of the Cenozoic.

Carettochelyidae Temporal range: Paleocene–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta)
Fossil of Allaeochelys crassesculptata
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Trionychia
Family:	Carettochelyidae Gill, 1889
Genera
See text

Taxonomy

After Joyce, 2014^[1] unless otherwise noted.

• Stem group taxa (also known as Pan-Carettochelys Joyce, Parham and Gauthier 2004)
• Kizylkumemys Nessov, 1976
  • Kizylkumemys khoratensis Tong et al., 2005 Khok Kruat Formation, Thailand, Early Cretaceous (Aptian)
  • Kizylkumemys schultzi Nessov, 1976 Khodzhakul Formation, Uzbekistan, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
• Indeterminate fragments of stem-Carretochelyids are also known from the Cenomanian aged Bayan Shireh Formation, Mongolia, which were originally assigned to "Anosteira" shuwalovi Chkhikvadze in Shuvalov and Chkhikvadze, 1979, which Joyce 2014 regarded as a nomen dubium.^[1]
• Carettochelyidae Gill, 1889
  • Anosteira Leidy, 1871
    • Anosteira manchuriana Zangerl, 1947 Liaoning, China, late Eocene
    • Anosteira maomingensis Chow and Liu, 1955 Youkanwo Formation, Guangdong, China, Late Eocene
    • Anosteira mongoliensis Gilmore, 1931 Inner Mongolia, China, Late Eocene-Oligocene
    • Anosteira ornata Leidy, 1871 Bridger Formation, Wyoming, USA, Early Eocene
    • Anosteira pulchra (Clark, 1932) Uinta Formation, Utah, USA, Middle Eocene (Lutetian)
  • Chorlakkichelys shahi De Broin, 1987^[2] from the Early Eocene (Lutetian) aged Kuldana Formation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan was considered to be a nomem dubium and an indeterminate carettochelyid by Joyce, 2014, due to the fragmentary and heavily eroded nature of the specimens.^[1]
  • Carettochelyinae Williams, 1950
    • Allaeochelys Noulet, 1867
      • Allaeochelys crassesculpta (Harrassowitz, 1922) Messel Pit, Germany, Early Eocene
      • Allaeochelys delheidi (Dollo, 1886) Brussels Formation, Belgium, Zamora, Spain, Early Eocene Headon Hill Formation, England, Late Eocene (Priabonian)
      • Allaeochelys libyca Havlik et al, 2014, Al Wahat District, Libya, middle Miocene (Langhian)
      • Allaeochelys lingnanica (Young and Chow, 1962) Shaoguan, Guangdong, China early Paleogene (possibly Paleocene)
      • Allaeochelys magnifica (=Burmemys magnifica Hutchison et al., 2004) Pandaung Formation, Myanmar, Late Eocene (Bartonian)
      • Allaeochelys parayrei Noulet, 1867 Tarn, Toulouse, France, Late Eocene (Bartonian)
      • Allaeochelys liliae Carbot-Chanona et al. 2020^[3] Mazantic Shale, Chiapas, Mexico, Early Miocene (Aquitanian)
    • Carettochelys Ramsay, 1886
      • Carettochelys insculpta Ramsay, 1886 Northern Australia, New Guinea, Recent
      • Carettochelys niahensis White et al. 2023 Borneo, Neogene^[4]
    • Indeterminate carettochelyids are also known from the uppermost Miocene to lowermost Pliocene of Victoria, Australia,^[5] As well as the Upper Miocene of New Guinea.^[6]

References

1. Joyce, Walter G. (April 2014). "A Review of the Fossil Record of Turtles of the Clade Pan-Carettochelys". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 55 (1): 3–33. doi:10.3374/014.055.0102. ISSN 0079-032X. S2CID 59382889.
2. Gayet, M.; De Broin, F.; Rage, J.C. (1987). "Lower Vertebrates from the Early-Middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan): Holostei and Teleostei, Chelonia, and Squamata" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology. 27 (7): 151–193.
3. Carbot-Chanona, Gerardo; Rivera-Velázquez, Gustavo; Jiménez-Hidalgo, Eduardo; Reynoso, Víctor Hugo (December 2020). "The first Pan-Carettochelys turtle in the Neogene of the American continent and its paleobiogeographical relevance". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 104: 102925. Bibcode:2020JSAES.10402925C. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102925. S2CID 224976641.
4. White, Arthur W.; Archer, Michael; Hand, Suzanne J.; Godthelp, Henk; Gillespie, Anna K. (2023-10-02). "A new broad-snouted fossil carettochelyid turtle from a previously unknown Caenozoic deposit in Sarawak, Malaysia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 47 (4): 614–623. Bibcode:2023Alch...47..614W. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2243503. ISSN 0311-5518.
5. Rule, James P.; Kool, Lesley; Parker, William M.G.; Fitzgerald, Erich M.G. (2021-12-07). Mannion, Philip (ed.). "Turtles all the way down: Neogene pig-nosed turtle fossil from southern Australia reveals cryptic freshwater turtle invasions and extinctions". Papers in Palaeontology. 8: spp2.1414. doi:10.1002/spp2.1414. ISSN 2056-2799. S2CID 245107305.
6. Glaessner, Martin F. (1942-07-08). "The occurrence of the New Guinea Turtle (Carettochelys) in the Miocene of Papua". Records of the Australian Museum. 21 (2): 106–109. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.21.1942.262. ISSN 0067-1975.