The cranial morphology of the extinct horned turtle, Meiolania platyceps, from the Pleistocene of Lord Howe Island, Australia. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 175, article 4
Supplemental Materials
Date
1983
item.page.datecreated
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
[New York] : American Museum of Natural History
DOI
DOI
Abstract
"Meiolania platyceps is the best known of the extinct horned turtles of the Southern Hemisphere. Five skulls and hundreds of cranial elements have been collected from Pleistocene rocks on Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, over the past 100 years. The skull of Meiolania platyceps has the following features of the family Meiolaniidae: (1) Squamosal and supraoccipital produced into large posteriorly and posterolaterally directed processes that extend clear of the skull roof; (2) Medial plate of pterygoid separated ventrally from basisphenoid to form intrapterygoid slit. Meiolania platyceps can be identified as Crytodira on the possession of: (1) A processus trochlearis oticum on the anterior edge of the otic chamber; (2) A pterygoid that extends posteriorly between quadrate and braincase; (3) A descending process of the prefrontal that meets the vomer ventromedially. Within the Crytodira, Meiolania platyceps can be identified as Eucryptodira based on the posterior position of the foramen posterius canalis carotici interni"--P. 364.
Description
p. 363-479 : ill., map ; 26 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 477-479).
Includes bibliographical references (p. 477-479).
item.page.type
text