Cranial morphology of the baenid turtles. American Museum novitates ; no. 2737

Abstract

"The family Baenidae is a group of extinct cryptodiran turtles known from more than a dozen well-preserved skulls from the Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Eocene. The baenid skull is characterized by sigificant generalized features in the skull roof and basicranium that are consistent with their hypothesized relationship as the sister group to the living cryptodires, the Eucryptodira. The arterial canals of the skull are preserved in enough specimens to conclude that baenids had an arterial pattern characterized by a large and well-developed canalis stapedio-temporalis and a small but persistent canalis caroticus lateralis"--P. [1].