Caninemys, a New Side-Necked Turtle (Pelomedusoides: Podocnemididae) from the Miocene of Brazil
Author
Meylan, Peter A.
Author
Gaffney, Eugene S.
Author
De Almeida Campos, Diogenes
text
American Museum Novitates
2009
2009-03-31
3639
1
26
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/608.1
journal article
10.1206/608.1
0003-0082
5356430
Caninemys
,
new genus
TYPE
SPECIES
:
Caninemys tridentata
,
new species
.
DISTRIBUTION: Late Tertiary, Miocene, of
Acre
,
Brazil
.
ETYMOLOGY: Named for the bulldog appearance of the skull and the large maxillary processes in the position of mammalian canines.
DIAGNOSIS: A podocnemidid pleurodire with a well-developed processus trochlearis pterygoidei, quadrate-basioccipital contact, and a large cavum pterygoidei; unique among podocnemidids (and all other turtles) in having greatly inflated maxillae, each with a ventral, toothlike process, which, together with a single process formed on the midline of the premaxillae, form a tridentate condition in the upper triturating surfaces, unique among pleurodires. The entire animal was probably smaller than
Stupendemys geographicus
Wood, 1976
.