Kurmademys, a new side-necked turtle (Pelomedusoides, Bothremydidae) from the late Cretaceous of India. American Museum novitates ; no. 3321

Abstract

The Maastrichtian Kallamedu Formation of southern India near the village of Kallamedu, Tamil Nadu, has yielded skulls and postcrania of a new genus of side-necked turtle. Kurmademys kallamedensis, new genus and species, is based primarily on a single well-preserved skull. Kurmademys is a pelomedusoid pleurodire belonging to the family Bothremydidae Baur, 1891, with these bothremydid characters: (1) exoccipital-quadrate contact, (2) incisura columellae auris closed by bone, and (3) eustachian tube and stapes separated by bone. Kurmademys is unique among known bothremydids in having extensive temporal emargination, a small postorbital, a large precollumellar fossa, and a foramen posterius canalis carotici interni formed completely by the basisphenoid.