Evolution Of The Side-Necked Turtles: The Family Podocnemididae
Author
Gaffney, Eugene S.
Author
Meylan, Peter A.
Author
Wood, Roger C.
Author
Simons, Elwyn
Author
De Almeida Campos, Diogenes
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2011
2011-04-29
2011
350
1
237
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/350.1
journal article
10.1206/350.1
0003-0090
Podocnemis unifilis
Troschel, 1848
SYNONYMY
: See
Boulenger (1889)
,
Siebenrock (1902
,
1904
),
Wermuth and Mertens (1961
,
1977
),
Pritchard and Trebbau (1984)
,
Iverson (1992)
,
Mittermeier and Wilson (1974)
.
TYPE
SPECIMEN
AND
LOCALITY
: See
Iverson (1992)
.
DIAGNOSIS
: See
Siebenrock (1902)
,
Williams (1954a)
and
Pritchard and Trebbau (1984)
.
REFERRED
MATERIAL
: AMNH Herpetology 58200, NMV 1824, AMNH Herpetology 58104, AMNH Herpetology 58198, FMNH Herpetology 98865, FMNH Herpetology 98926, FMNH Herpetology 45657, FMNH Herpetology 211758, USNM Herpetology 313861.
PREVIOUS
WORK
:
Boulenger (1889)
,
Siebenrock (1902
,
1904
),
Williams (1954a)
provide useful information.
Siebenrock (1904)
has descriptions of the whole animal with figures;
Pritchard and Trebbau (1984)
figure skull and shell with sutures.
Williams (1954a)
figures the palate.
Groombridge (1982)
has a general literature review.
DISCUSSION
: Although relatively common in collections and referred to in many systematic works, there is no rigorous, comparative morphologic diagnosis for this species. We have included new figures of the skull of
Podocnemis unifilis
for comparison (figs. 39, 40). Among the references indicat- ed,
Siebenrock (1902)
,
Williams (1954a)
,
Pritchard and Trebbau (1984)
, do provide descriptive information particularly useful in preserved specimens but few comparative osteologic characters.